The House will vote Thursday on a “Fast Track” trade bill that most Democrats oppose, with passage hinging on a coalition of Republicans and a small faction of Democrats.
The bill will not include a provision to extend a program that provides aid to workers displaced by new trade deals, a provision known as Trade Adjustment Assistance. Instead, the Senate will take up that measure and send it back to the House for approval, Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said Wednesday.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a joint statement that they are “committed to ensuring”‘ both the “Fast Track” and TAA measures “get votes in the House and Senate and are sent to the president for signature.”
That assurance will likely be needed to convince Democrats to support TAA. A legislative package that includes “Fast Track” and the trade aid language has been stalled since Friday, when Democrats voted down the aid measure in order to sink the “Fast Track” bill, which will allow President Obama to negotiate expedited trade deals.
Obama has been negotiating with pro-trade Democrats to secure a coalition in the House to pass the “Fast Track” bill. On Wednesday, the White House said it wants to sign both “Fast Track” and TAA into law.
