Washington – Business Roundtable (BRT) today welcomed news that leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives have scheduled a vote next week on legislation to establish permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with Russia. BRT called for a strong, bipartisan vote by Members of the House and urged the Senate to also act on the legislation as soon as possible in the “lame-duck” session.

“We applaud House leadership for scheduling a floor vote on Russia PNTR legislation next week,” said BRT President John Engler. “This legislation is needed to give U.S. companies and workers a fair chance to sell more of their goods and services to Russia, an important and growing international market with roughly 142 million consumers. Passage of this legislation will help increase U.S. exports and support American economic growth and jobs.”

Without PNTR, American companies are at a competitive disadvantage in the Russian market, while all other WTO member countries can fully benefit from Russia’s WTO membership. Russia PNTR legislation received unanimous support by the Senate Finance Committee and near-unanimous support by the House Ways & Means Committee in July.

Passage of Russia PNTR legislation is Business Roundtable’s top trade priority this year. To learn more, visit www.brt.org/Russia.