Rep. Paul Ryan said Tuesday that the fact that Republicans like himself were backing the Obama administration on Trade Promotion Authority was proof that the proposed legislation did not cede too much congressional authority to the White House.
“I’d no sooner trust this administration with total power than I would trust the [New England] Patriots with all of the footballs on Lambeau Field,” the Wisconsin Republican said, making a joking reference to the current controversy regarding whether the National Football League team cheated by using non-regulation footballs in its conference championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. Lambeau Field is home of the Green Bay Packers.
In back-to-back hearings Tuesday, key Republican lawmakers assured U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman that they supported President Obama’s trade policy agenda. The affirmation was a welcome sign for the administration, which faces a potentially difficult fight due to opposition from Democrats.
Under TPA, Congress would not be able amend trade deals, only vote up or down on approving them. It is a top priority of the administration’s trade agenda and key to getting congressional approval for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation deal in the Pacific Rim the administration is concluding negotiations on.
Froman received warm receptions from the Senate Finance Committee, whose chairman is Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Ryan’s House Ways and Means Committee. Both lawmakers stressed the importance of trade to the U.S. economy and indicated they backed Trade Promotion Authority.
“While there may be some improvements we can make to the bill, I want to make one thing clear: The time for TPA is now,” Hatch said. “TPA empowers our negotiators.”
In a hearing later Tuesday, Ryan agreed, arguing that the government has to speak with a common voice in trade negotiation to strengthen the administration’s leverage. “We cannot negotiate just with ourselves.”
TPA is rare issue where the administration is aligned with the GOP and faces serious opposition from its own party. A majority of Democrats are expected to oppose TPA as well as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
At the hearing, Democratic lawmakers took the opportunity to drill Froman on aspects of the deal. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., noted that President Obama himself said in his State of the Union address that past trade deals “haven’t always lived up to the hype.” He asked Froman why it would be different this time.
“The president has made clear that as we pursue a new trade policy we have to learn from the mistakes of the past,” Froman said. He explained that past deals did not always include strong labor and environmental protections. This time, they will be included in the “core of the agreement,” he said.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, pursued a similar tact as Wyden, asking Froman whether previous claims by the administration regarding the benefits of trade deals had been borne out. Doggett said a trade agreement with South Korea had caused net U.S. job losses. Froman didn’t deny that but said that was a function of a downturn in the Korean economy that was working itself out.
“Last year, our goods exports were up by 7 percent,” Froman said, adding that the Korean trade deal has not been fully implemented.
Noting the Democratic opposition, Ryan asked what the administration was doing to bring the party’s lawmakers onboard. Froman replied that the administration was engaged in a “whole of government” effort to convince the doubters, with all key members of the administration and Cabinet participating.
