T he Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (BCTPAA) makes legislation that would implement certain kinds of international trade agreement negotiated by the President eligible for congressional consideration under a set of statutory expedited procedures. Because these procedures are designed to ensure that Congress can take up the implementing bill and reach a final vote thereon without amendment, they have frequently been said to restrict Congress to choosing only whether or not to implement a covered trade agreement in the form negotiated by the President, and thereby as constraining Congress in the exercise of its constitutional legislative powers. Finally, the act establishes procedural mechanisms through which, if the trade agreement and the process of its negotiation do not meet the chief content and consultation requirements of the act, Congress may withdraw the eligibility of the implementing bill for expedited consideration under the trade authorities procedures. Eligibility for Expedited Consideration

Among the requirements the BCTPAA establishes for covered trade agreements to be eligible for expedited consideration under the trade authorities procedures of Section 151, three general classes may be distinguished, related respectively to (1) the substance of the agreement and of its implementing bill; (2) notifications, reports, and other submissions to Congress by the President, the USTR, and other entities; and (3) consultations with organs of Congress by the President, the USTR, and others. The BCTPAA, however, also provides that in carrying out this directive, the President is to take into account "all of the negotiating objectives" established by the act. Finally, the BCTPAA provides that a covered trade agreement can enter into force with respect to the United States only if the implementing bill is enacted into law, and sets forth with specificity the form the implementing bill must take in order to be eligible for expedited consideration. In particular, in relation to negotiations for a covered trade agreement, the act: 
gives the two Advisory Groups a broad mandate to "consult with and provide advice to" the USTR on "the formulation of specific objectives, negotiating strategies and positions, the development of the ... agreement, and compliance and enforcement of the negotiated commitments" thereunder; requires the President, before and after giving his 90 days' notice of intent to begin negotiations (noted in the previous section), to consult with the revenue committees, other committees as he deems appropriate, and the two Advisory Groups; also requires the President, before initiating or continuing negotiations related to agriculture, to consult with the revenue committees and the Committees on Agriculture on whether further reductions in tariffs on agricultural products are appropriate, and on how applicable negotiating objectives will be met (based on an assessment which he is mandated to make of the relations among existing agricultural tariffs of the United States, its negotiating partners, and other countries); requires the USTR, before initiating or continuing negotiations on agriculture, to consult with the revenue committees and the Committees on Agriculture on the extent to which further tariff reductions on "import-sensitive" agricultural products subject to trade barriers would be appropriate; directs the USTR, after these consultations, to notify the same committees of any "import-sensitive" agricultural products on which tariff reductions will be sought and the reasons for doing so, and of any later additions to the list once negotiations have commenced; requires the President, before initiating or continuing negotiations regarding the fishing industry, to consult with the revenue committees, the House Committee on Natural Resources, and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and "keep them apprised of the negotiations on an ongoing and timely basis"; requires the President, before initiating or continuing negotiations regarding textiles and apparel, to consult with the revenue committees on whether further tariff reductions in this area are appropriate, based on an assessment he is mandated to make of the relation between existing tariffs of the U.S. and its negotiating partners in this area; requires the President, at any time before or during negotiations, to meet with each Advisory Group upon request of a majority thereof; mandates that during the course of negotiations, the USTR "consult closely and on a timely basis with, and keep fully apprised of the negotiations," not only the two Advisory Groups, but also the revenue committees themselves, and all committees in each chamber "with jurisdiction over laws that could be affected by" the agreement; establishes a similar mandate for consultations by the USTR during the course of negotiations with the Committees on Agriculture and with the designated advisers in each chamber, but in these cases the act specifies that the consultations also occur "immediately before initialing an agreement"; requires the President, before entering into (signing) a covered trade agreement, to consult with the revenue committees, other committees with jurisdiction over matters affected by the agreement, and the two Advisory Groups, on the "nature of the agreement," how it advances "applicable purposes, policies, priorities, and objectives" of the BCTPAA, and its implementation, including its effect on existing laws; requires the USTR, "prior to exchanging notes providing for the entry into force of a trade agreement," to consult "closely and on a timely basis" with several of the groups previously specified (including the revenue committees, the two Advisory Groups, the agriculture committees, other committees whose jurisdictions the agreement might touch on, and other Members of Congress) to "keep them fully apprised of the measures a trading partner has taken to comply with those provisions of the agreement that are to take effect on the date that the agreement enters into force." For the reasons previously discussed in the section on " Statutory Means of Congressional Control ," however, these modified terms of consideration have generally retained the prohibition on amendment to the measure. The consultation and compliance resolution, made available for the first time by the BCTPAA, may be used by either house to withdraw eligibility for expedited consideration in that chamber. Finally, the principal means available under general congressional rules to deny expedited consideration to an implementing bill might be a special rule in the House or a point of order in either chamber. Procedural Disapproval Resolution

In the course of successive trade acts, the procedural disapproval resolution (PDR) has developed into a means for Congress to deny expedited consideration to a specific implementing bill if it judges that the trade agreement does not meet the substantive requirements of the BCTPAA. The BCTPAA, in other words, allows Congress to withdraw expedited consideration by this process only through action by both chambers. If one chamber adopts a PDR with respect to a specific trade agreement, the expedited procedures will continue to apply to the implementing bill in both chambers unless the other chamber also adopts its own PDR within 60 days thereafter. The committees may not amend the resolution; it may receive floor consideration in either chamber only if reported by the respective committee(s), and either chamber would consider it under the expedited procedures of Section 152(d) and 152(e) of the Trade Act of 1974. Any of these events would suffice to vitiate the purpose of the expedited procedure to ensure that Congress as a whole would be able to complete action on an implementing bill within a delimited period of time. House Consultation and Compliance Resolution

Inasmuch as the BCTPAA established the CCR in the Senate as a mechanism for that body unilaterally to deny expedited consideration of an implementing bill there, Congress appears to have thought it appropriate to provide for a parallel mechanism for the House, as well.
The Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (BCTPAA, title II of P.L. 114-26) renewed the "trade promotion authority" (TPA) under which implementing bills for trade agreements that address non-tariff barriers to trade (and certain levels of tariff reduction) are eligible for expedited (or "fast track") consideration by Congress under the "trade authorities procedures" established by the Trade Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-618). These expedited procedures provide for automatic introduction of the implementing bill submitted by the President, attempt to ensure that both chambers will consider and vote on it, prohibit amendment, and eliminate any need to resolve bicameral differences before sending the measure to the President. (In practice, each chamber has usually agreed to consider each implementing bill under terms that modify or override the statutory requirements, but that usually retain the prohibition on amendment.)
These arrangements have been viewed as assuring negotiating partners that the United States will implement a trade agreement in the form negotiated; they also ensure that Congress will be able to conclude action within a delimited period of time. For these reasons, however, they also have often been seen as restricting Congress to approving or disapproving the terms of a trade agreement in the form negotiated by the President.
The BCTPAA, however, also mitigates these restrictions in several ways. First, it establishes numerous requirements that a trade agreement must meet in order for the implementing bill to be eligible for expedited consideration. Principally, it provides that (1) the trade agreement must promote a series of negotiating objectives, (2) the agreement and the implementing bill must meet several other requirements of content, (3) the President and the United States Trade Representative (USTR) must submit a range of required notifications, reports, and other materials to Congress in relation to any covered trade negotiations, and (4) the President and the USTR must engage in an extensive variety of ongoing consultations with Advisory Groups on Negotiations (established by the act), the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance, and other organs of Congress.
Second, the BCTPAA provides several means by which Congress can deny expedited consideration for a specific trade agreement and either decline to consider it or consider it under terms that would permit amendment and eliminate debate limits. A "procedural disapproval resolution" (PDR) declares a trade agreement ineligible for expedited consideration because adequate consultations have not occurred or the agreement does not promote statutory objectives. Expedited consideration of the implementing bill is withdrawn if, within a 60-day period, each chamber adopts a PDR (subject to an applicable expedited procedure). Each chamber, as well, has available its own form of "consultation and compliance resolution" (CCR), by which it can deny expedited consideration in that chamber if it judges that adequate consultations have not occurred; the CCR, however, is not subject to expedited consideration. (By agreeing to a third form of resolution, either chamber may declare that a proposed agreement contravenes U.S. negotiating objectives regarding "trade remedies." This resolution may receive expedited consideration, but if adopted, does not deny expedited consideration to an implementing bill.) Also, either chamber might use its general rules to deny expedited consideration to an implementing bill, typically through a special rule in the House or by unanimous consent in the Senate.
Control over the use of all the mechanisms established by the BCTPAA lies principally with the revenue committees. They are the ones that receive most of the notifications and reports and that are most involved in the consultations, required by the act. The act also makes them responsible for negotiating the terms of the consultations with the executive. Significantly, the structure of the act allows them to use the act's informational requirements and consultations to develop, and propose to the President, the text of the implementing bill he is to submit. They customarily do this through a proceeding known as a "mock markup."
Finally, the BCTPAA provides that any of the resolutions through which Congress can deny expedited consideration becomes available for floor consideration in either chamber only through action by the respective revenue committee. Accordingly, although the President need not submit his draft implementing bill in the form proposed through a mock markup, the revenue committee could still effectively determine whether that measure may receive expedited consideration. In all these ways, the structure of the BCTPAA establishes the revenue committees as the chief agents of Congress in preserving its constitutional prerogatives in relation to the trade agreements covered by the act.
This report is not designed to address events that may occur in congressional consideration of implementing legislation for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) or any other specific trade agreement under the BCTPAA. It will be updated only if changes occur in the statutory conditions for consideration of this class of trade agreements.