The Senate passed “Fast Track” trade legislation on Wednesday, a vote that will soon send the measure to President Obama’s desk for his signature into law.
It only needed 51 votes to pass, and it passed easily, 60-38.
The trade promotion authority legislation, or TPA, will give Obama the authority to secure expedited trade deals and will help pave the way for a pact with 11 Pacific-Rim nations.
The bill cleared Congress in spite of the efforts of most Democrats and a smaller contingency of Republicans to block it. Democrats managed to kill it in the House this month, only to see Obama team with the GOP to revive it.
It sets out 160 parameters defined by Congress that the president is to use when negotiating trade deals. But it also limits Congress by preventing them from amending those deals. Instead, they’ll get 60 days to review new trade pacts before approving or disapproving them in an up or down vote.
“The legislation that will soon be signed into law will rightly enhance Congress’ oversight over both the administration and the trade negotiation process as it moves forward, and it will also ensure our ability to scrutinize and render a verdict on any trade deal inked by this administration or the next one,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said. “That’s a common-sense outcome for our country, and it’s another bipartisan achievement for the new Congress.”
Pro-trade Democrats cut a deal with the GOP that is expected to result in passage of a bill extending the trade adjustment assistance program, or TAA, which will help workers who lose their jobs or are underemployed because of trade.
The Senate TAA legislation passed by voice vote Wednesday evening after easily clearing a procedural hurdle. Obama said he wants to sign both measures into law at the same time.
The House will vote on the TAA bill Thursday and is expected to pass, although some Democrats who oppose the trade deal said they will vote against it.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she will vote to pass TAA although she is against TPA.