The House on Thursday will attempt to revive a “Fast Track” trade bill that President Obama and Republicans are eager to complete, after days of back-room negotiations and a stunning defeat for Obama last week at the hands of House Democrats.
Absent from the deal is Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who joined with the majority of her caucus to urge Obama to nix the legislation in favor of a new bill Democrats could amend with trade enforcement provisions.
With Pelosi and the Democrats mostly sidelined, the House will vote Thursday on the trade promotion authority act, or TPA, which would give President Obama expedited powers to sign international trade deals and prevent Congress from amending new trade pacts before an up or down vote on them. The legislation sets more than 150 parameters the president should follow in establishing new trade agreements.
Obama is particularly eager to sign the legislation into law as he is in the middle of negotiating a trade pact with 11 Pacific Rim nations that hinges in part on Congress extending TPA powers to the executive branch.
Most Democrats are staunchly opposed to the bill because they believe it will hasten new trade agreements that kill jobs and hurt the economy, particularly in manufacturing communities damaged by international currency manipulation.
Obama and Republicans plan to sidestep the majority of the Democratic caucus by forging a coalition of Republicans and a small faction of pro-trade Democrats who they are counting on to push the legislation across the finish line Thursday.
“We are not trying to do anything that has not been agreed to by the White House and the Senate,” said House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas.
Obama has phoned and met privately with pro-trade Democrats all week in an effort to shore up support for the legislation as a “standalone” bill not tethered to a trade adjustment assistance measure, or TAA, which would extend a program to provide aid to workers displaced by new trade deals.
“We’re working together, so there are not going to be any surprises so hopefully we can get everybody on board,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y. “What’s good about the Democratic caucus is there is diversity in ideas. And from my viewpoint, when I look at TPA, I believe it helps create jobs. I believe it is good for the American worker.”
Meeks blamed pressure from labor unions for Democratic opposition, which sank the package in a Friday vote. The unions have threatened Democrats with primary opposition and aired ads against lawmakers considering support for the trade deal.
Without the unions, Meeks said, “TPA would have passed without a problem.”
But final passage from Congress will nonetheless hinge on passage of the TAA measure, lawmakers told the Washington Examiner.
The TAA provision is not part of the House vote Thursday, even though TAA and TPA were connected last week. Instead, the Senate will act first on TAA, perhaps by attaching it to an African trade measure. Upon passage, it would go to the House for a vote and finally to the president’s desk.
While the issues have been split up, many Democrats are insisting that both must be passed, a goal shared by the White House. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., one of more than a dozen pro-trade Senate Democrats, said she told President Obama she won’t back the deal unless he signs “Fast Track” and TAA at the same time.
“They have to move through together at some point and be signed together,” Feinstein said. “I know the president knows that and I’m hopeful he’s able to work out and agreement to see that that happens.”
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told the Examiner the Senate is waiting to see if the House can pass “Fast Track.”
“We’ll try to come up with something that we can still TAA in and pass it,” Cornyn said. “It’s a little bit of a high wire act. We’re working it.”
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a joint statement that they are “committed to ensuring”‘ both the “Fast Track” and TAA measures “get votes in the House and Senate and are sent to the President for signature.”
Word of the deal spread quickly through the halls of Congress Wednesday as Democrats prepared to join GOP lawmakers at the annual White House picnic with Obama.
Some Democrats told the Examiner they were angered by Obama’s decision to work with Republicans to pass the deal. Others said they expected it and there were no hard feelings toward the president.
“I know from history here, normally trade votes pass,” Rep. Lacy Clay, D-Mo., said. “One way or the other.”
