Republican and Democratic lawmakers Wednesday struck a deal to move forward on a trade package that would give President Obama expedited powers to enact international trade deals.
The accord comes a day after Democrats handed President Obama a stunning defeat on the “Fast Track” trade bill by voting nearly unanimously to block it on the Senate floor.
Under the agreement outlined Wednesday by Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the Senate will hold votes on a trade enforcement bill as well as legislation extending an African trade agreement.
Then it will take up a bill that combines the “Fast Track” trade authority with the Trade Adjustment Act, which provides aid to workers who lose jobs as a result of increased imports.
Republican leaders say the terms adhere to a bipartisan deal the Senate Finance Committee struck last week.
“The agreement we have entered into is consistent with the understanding with which these bills came out of [committee],” McConnell said in an interview as he left the Senate chamber.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., an opponent of the “Fast Track” bill, endorsed the deal, giving his party a pat on the back for winning a promised vote on trade enforcement and the Africa deal.
“Yesterday we made it clear we didn’t accept merely a fast-track foreign trade agreement,” Reid said. “We also must enforce the trade agreements we make. The proposal today provides that path forward.”
The trade enforcement legislation includes a provision that would identify currency manipulators who are trade pact partners. Democrats had initially insisted the provision be included in the fast-track bill, but McConnell said it would sink the legislation because neither the House nor Obama would approve it.
Opponents of trade deals say currency manipulation is damaging the U.S. economy and is going unpunished.
