On February 8, 2018, the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman K. Brady (R-TX) and its Ranking Member R. Neal (D-MA) and Trade Subcommittee Chairman (D. Reichert, R-WA) and its Ranking Member B. Pascrell D-NJ) announced that they had joined with Representative J. Walorski (R-IN) to introduce H.R. 4979, which provides a three-year renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, a longstanding U.S. trade preference program that delivers tariff relief and cost savings to American businesses, workers, and consumers across the country.  The program’s last authorization expired on December 31, 2017. When enacted, the bill introduced on February 8, will extend the program through December 31, 2020, and retroactively extend benefits to covered imports that have been made since the program lapsed. The bill also makes technical changes to update the process for considering “competitive need limitations” under the program. On February 13, 2018, the House voted 400-2 to approve the bi-partisan bill. The bill now goes to the Senate where the ongoing immigration debate may delay passage, even though the bill has widespread Senate support.