PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. (text of measure as introduced: CR S4872)
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · May 10, 2005
Fair Currency Practices Act of 2005 - Amends the Exchange Rates and International Economic Policy Coordination Act of 1988 with respect to bilateral negotiations with countries considered to manipulate the rate of exchange between their currency and the U.S. dollar for purposes of preventing effective balance of payments adjustments or gaining unfair competitive advantage in international trade.
Modifies the preconditions for the initiation of negotiations by the Secretary of the Treasury to make them alternative rather than joint. (Requires the Secretary to consider that such manipulation is occurring with respect to countries that possess material global current account surpluses or (currently, and) significant bilateral trade surpluses with the United States.)
Declares that a country shall be considered to be manipulating the rate of exchange between its currency and the U.S. dollar if there is a protracted large-scale intervention in one direction in the exchange markets.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Authorizes the Secretary to find that a country is manipulating the rate of exchange based on any other factor or combination of factors.
Requires the Secretary to examine and report to Congress on the trade surplus of the People's Republic of China (PRC), particularly on: (1) why the trade surplus with the United States and other countries reported by the PRC differs from the trade surplus reported by the other countries; and (2) quantification of such differences.
People & committees
Sen. Snowe, Olympia J. [R-ME] · R–ME
Legislative record
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. (text of measure as introduced: CR S4872)
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S4871-4872)
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
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Source last updated: Dec 5, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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