House Democrats Friday sunk a critical trade bill, rebuking President Obama just hours after he made a rare and high-profile trip to the Capitol to urge them to support it.
Democrats voted en mass to defeat reauthorization of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act, a measure that would provide $700 million in aid for workers displaced by international trade deals. Democratic votes were needed because most Republicans opposed it, but only a few dozen Democrats were supporting it late in the vote.
While Republicans opposed to the bill by an almost 2-1 margin, the vote showcased Obama’s inability to significantly move members of his own party. The strong GOP opposition to the bill means Obama would have needed more than 100 Democrats to pass it, and he fell far short. Only 40 Democrats voted for the bill.
The final vote was a rout 126-302.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., signaled the downfall of the legislation when she came to the House floor to announce her disapproval, just before the final vote.
“Today we have an opportunity to slow down,” Pelosi said. “Because whatever the deal is with other countries, we want a better deal for America’s workers.”
“Why are we fast-tracking trade and slow-walking the highway?” she asked.
The defeat of the TAA bill made it impossible to pass the trade promotion authority bill, or TPA, because TAA and TPA language was connected. The House voted immediately after the TAA vote on TPA, and it passed narrowly, 219-211.
But that vote is more of a signal of support for TPA, since the combined TAA and TPA bill is still stuck due to the failed TAA vote. “TPA will be stuck in the House,” a GOP aide told the Washington Examiner.
The plan was to pass TAA as a way of convincing Democrats to support TPA — supporters of TPA needed every Democrat they could get, as many Republicans were expected to vote against it.
President Obama and Republicans had been pushing hard for passage of TPA, which would provide Obama with expedited powers to secure new trade pacts, including pending deals with Asian and European nations. Most Republicans and somewhere around 20 Democrats were thought to support TPA, and believed the bill would create more American jobs by letting Obama negotiate trade deals to open up more foreign markets for the sale of U.S. goods and services.
“It’s a means to an end and the end is more free trade,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said of the TPA bill. “That is good for our economy and good for our country.”
The defeat of the package means that if President Obama wants to secure a deal, he’ll have to renegotiate the bill with most House Democrats, who want changes made that would ensure trade rules are enforced against currency manipulation and human rights violations.
“I’m not for trade at any price, at any cost,” Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., said before the vote.
Obama raced to the Capitol Friday morning in a last-ditch effort to steer Democrats away from their plan to defeat TPA by voting against the Trade Adjustment Act, or TAA. He told Democrats to “play it straight,” and avoid voting against TAA, a bill Democrats have traditionally backed.
But most Democrats weren’t swayed by the rare presidential visit.
Trade deals have become increasingly unpopular in the Democratic party. Lawmakers say the trade deals they have supported in the past have resulted in lost American jobs that were outsourced to trade-pact partners where wages are much lower and environmental regulations are not enforced.
“Past trade deals have hurt the american worker,” Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., said before the vote. “We want fair deals that help our workers. That is what this is about.”
Democrats also complained that currency manipulation has put U.S. manufacturers at a disadvantage with trading partners, who are able to sell goods cheaper by devaluing their own money.
Democrats were further angered that Republicans blocked their efforts to amend the legislation and Obama wouldn’t do anything to force the GOP to make those changes.
“The eyes of working families in communities across the country are focused on Congress today,” Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, said. “Hopefully we will finally do what is good for America. It’s a great deal for Wall Street, but for main street middle class and our workers, it’s another punch to the gut.”
The House on Friday did manage to pass a customs and trade enforcement bill, 240-190, but that bill was not attached to the TAA/TPA package.
