(The Hill) – The Senate on Tuesday voted to advance
President Obama’s trade agenda, approving a measure to end debate on fast-track
authority.
The 60-37 motion sets up a vote on final passage on
Wednesday. If the Senate approves fast-track or trade promotion authority
(TPA), it would then be sent to Obama’s desk to become law.
Fast-track authority would allow Obama to send trade deals
to Congress for up-or-down votes. The White House wants the authority to
conclude negotiations on a sweeping trans-Pacific trade deal.
Thirteen Democrats backed fast-track in Tuesday’s vote,
handing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) a major legislative
victory. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) voted against the procedural motion.
The Democrats cast “yes” votes even though the trade package
did not include a workers assistance program for people displaced by increased
trade. The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program was a part of the last fast-track
package approved by the Senate in May, but became a key part of opposition to
the package among Democrats in the House.
To move fast-track forward, the White House and GOP leaders
in both chambers decided to break TAA away from fast-track, and to try to
approve both in separate votes.
After the Senate votes Wednesday on final passage for
fast-track, it will take a procedural vote on a package that includes TAA and
trade preferences for African countries known as the African Growth and
Opportunity Act.
McConnell has promised both bills, as well as a customs and
enforcement bill favored by Democrats, will reach Obama’s desk by the end of
the week.
“If we all keep working together and trusting each other,
then by the end of the week the President will have TPA, TAA, and AGOA and
Preferences on his desk — with Customs in the process of heading his way too,”
he said on the floor.
The House has already passed fast-track but it must still
vote on the package including TAA, which faces opposition from conservatives.
Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) reiterated on
Tuesday his pledge to vote again on TAA as soon as it clears the upper
chamber.
“The House will consider TAA once it passes the Senate as
part of a new trade preferences bill. And we are ready to go to conference
on the customs bill. Our goal is to get TPA and TAA to the president’s
desk this week and deliver this win for the American people,” he said in a
statement.
The Senate vote to end a filibuster against fast-track
appeared in doubt until the final moment as a group of pro-trade Democrats
balked at McConnell’s decision to split it off from TAA, a move made necessary
to circumvent opposition in the House.
Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet (Colo.), Chris Coons (Del.),
Ben Cardin (Md.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Claire
McCaskill (Mo.), Patty Murray (Wash.) and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) refused to say
publicly how they would vote.
McConnell’s margin for error shrank further when Sen. Ted
Cruz (R-Texas), who is running for president, announced he would vote to block
the bill, declaring in a Breitbart.com op-ed that it had “become enmeshed in
corrupt Washington backroom dealmaking.”
Other Republican White House hopefuls, including Sen. Rand
Paul (Ky.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee oppose fast-track.
Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), the senior Democrat on the Finance
Committee, held talks with other pro-trade Democrats late into the
evening Monday to address their concerns.
He delivered an impassioned speech in favor of the bill
shortly before the vote, arguing that it would allow the United States to keep
pace with China in the competition for Asian markets.
“This is our chance to set a new course. This is our chance
to put in place higher standards in global trade on matters like labor rights
and environmental protection, shine some real sunlight on trade agreements and
ensure that our country writes the rules of the road,” he said.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who
co-wrote the trade bill with Wyden, argued the vast majority of global economic
growth will take place outside of the United States over the next decade.
“If our workers, farmers, ranchers and service providers are
going to be able to compete in these growing markets, we must have open access
to these markets and fair trade rules to boot,” he said on the floor.
Opponents led by Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and
Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) warned fast-track would cost thousands of American
jobs and allow multi-national companies to evade U.S. law.
Brown reproached his colleagues for voting to give Obama
fast-track authority while having little idea of the shape of the Trans-Pacific
Partnership trade accord that will receive expedited consideration in Congress
as a result.
“We’ve gotten the worst of both worlds because we’re voting
on TPA and we haven’t been able to see what’s in TPP,” Brown said before the
vote.
The AFL-CIO waged a fierce lobbying campaign against
fast-track for months.
“It will do nothing to prevent repeating the mistakes of
failed trade policies that have contributed to stagnating wages, increasing
inequality, and the closure of more than 60,000 factories since 2000,” the
union wrote in a letter dated Monday.
Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Bob
Corker (R-Tenn.) missed the vote. McConnell said Corker would have voted “yes”
if he had been present, while Brown noted that Lee and Menendez would have
voted “no.”
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/245827-senate-advances-fast-track-trade-bill-for-obama
http://www.teaparty.org/senate-gives-obama-power-advances-fast-track-trade-bill-104432/
Comments
Next comes the Senate vote to pass TPA. If
they pass it, it’s over. Obama will have a free hand to jam UN sabotage into
our Constitution. Next will come TAA
unemployment for displaced US citizens. After that is TiSA (Trade in Services) to
remove US citizens from services jobs. After that, Obama will use TPP to force full
“climate change” UN Agenda 21 implementation in the US. That means carbon taxes and gun confiscation.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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