The White House began prodding Congress on Thursday to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership as soon as possible, just hours after posting the text of the 12-nation trade agreement that has 30 chapters and more than 2,000 pages.
Many have thought a vote on the TPP might come in the lame duck session of Congress, one year from now.
But White House spokesman Josh Earnest dismissed talk that Congress might wait that long. “It’s not necessary to wait that long; that would mean waiting almost a year,” Earnest said.
Earnest noted that the trade promotion authority Congress granted the executive branch in July is referred to as Fast Track authority, and invoked that term to goose Congress to move quickly. “But Congress’ definition of fast is quite a bit different than I think most people’s definition of fast,” he joked.
The administration went to “great lengths” to make the text available to lawmakers and the public as quickly as possible, Earnest said. The administration is “respectful” that both need time to digest the massive document, but Obama would like Congress to vote on the pact within the 90-day timeframe established by the Fast Track law, he said.
“[W]e don’t believe that Congress should wait a year before acting, but we are respectful of the need to give time to Congress and to the American public to consider the details of the agreement before they take action on it,” Earnest said.
Once Obama notifies Congress of his intent to sign the deal, a 90-day “or so” clock for congressional review begins, Earnest said. Based on that alone, it’s not even possible for Obama to sign the agreement until early next year, let alone have Congress finish its work on implementing legislation.
The complex process includes additional deadlines after that, which is why many think votes may occur a year from now. Within the process is a final 90-day period that Congress has to consider legislation to implement the deal. That’s the process Earnest seemed to say that Congress should speed up, but it’s unlikely to start until the middle of next year at the earliest.
Still, Obama posted a statement on the White House website Thursday morning to promote the deal.
“If you’re an autoworker in Michigan, the cars you build face taxes as high as 70 percent in Vietnam,” he wrote. “If you’re a worker in Oregon, you’re forced to compete against workers in other countries that set lower standards and pay lower wages just to cut their costs. If you’re a small business owner in Ohio, you might face customs rules that are confusing, costly and an unnecessary barrier to selling abroad.”
“The Trans-Pacific Partnership will change that,” he stated. “I know that past trade agreements haven’t always lived up to the hype. That’s what makes this trade agreement so different, and so important.”
“I know that if you take a look at what’s actually in the TPP, you will see that this is, in fact, a new type of trade deal that puts American workers first,” Obama wrote.
Leading lawmakers are saying that they will review the deal carefully.
