House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, indicated Thursday that the anticipated House vote to give President Obama trade promotion authority is in trouble in the House, and that more Republican and Democratic votes are still needed to pass that bill.
This week, roughly 18 Democrats are thought to favor the “fast track” trade bill, but Boehner indicated that 18 is not enough, and that Obama needs to work the phones to convince more Democrats.
“I talked to the president yesterday, he’s got some work to do too,” Boehner told reporters.
But Boehner also refused to say whether he could deliver the 200 GOP votes needed to pass the bill, assuming 18 Democrats are on board.
“I’m not the whip so I don’t get into vote counts, but we’re working to get trade promotion authority finished,” he said. “I’ve been meeting with members over the last few days. I’m going to continue to meet with members.”
Republicans are eager to bring up the bill this month, and Boehner said if it can’t be passed in June, it would only be harder to pass the bill in July. But at this point, the votes don’t seem to be there — House leaders were hoping to bring up the bill this week, but held it back.
Boehner spoke just after Pelosi said he needs to shoot for 200 for passage, to be safe.
“Two hundred,” she told reporters when asked. “I think that 200 is what they should come up with.”
Pelosi said Boehner has 245 members, and said trade promotion authority would be able to get to 218 with 200 GOP votes and the “dozen and a half” Democrats that support the bill. She also chided Boehner by saying he should be able to find 200 votes given his leadership position.
“The Speaker should be able to deliver 200 votes,” she said. “The awesome power of the Speaker. I know of what I speak.”
