‘The Bill now returns to the Senate where its fate is far from certain’, Kelsey said.
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It takes President Obama a step closer to passing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – a deal between the United States and 11 other nations to remove or reduce barriers to trade and foreign investment.
Separating the two bills is intended to renew pressure on House Democrats, who could be faced with a worst-case scenario of reauthorizing fast track with adjustment assistance set to expire September 30.
And against all odds, they got it done, even gaining added support from Republicans in the 218-208 vote.
“This is a vote for a stronger economy and higher wages”.
Going into the meetings on Thursday, Deputy White House Press Secretary Eric Schultz defended the relationship between Pelosi and Obama.
The measure would let Obama submit trade agreements to Congress for an expedited, up-or-down vote without amendments.
I remain absolutely agnostic on the value of the TPP itself (as it is still mostly secret, among other reasons) and a back-and-forth believer that fast track might ensure that any resulting trade deal will be better than it would be if Congress got to mess around with it-see the above for some reasons why. The bill that Democrats rejected last week linked TAA’s passage to TPA’s, so their vote against TAA killed the overall bill.
Analysts said the White House and Republicans will have to convince pro-trade Senate Democrats to back the fast-track trade legislation on the promise that the TAA measure will also be approved at a later time. Without another vote, the bill cannot go to the president and be signed into law.
Democrats opposed to the trade package expressed frustration that GOP leaders were bypassing them. The California Democrat joined the revolt last week in which her party’s rank-and-file lawmakers helped vote down the aid package that they customarily support, calculating their actions would prevent the entire trade package from reaching Obama’s desk. The Senate is expected to take up TPA next week. TAA is the worker-assistance program. Every recent president has had this authority and it is necessary for this president and the next president to have credibility at the negotiating table.
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“Today the House continues its work to advance the people’s priorities”, House Speaker John Boehner said at his weekly press conference Thursday. Fearing backlash from labor groups if they vote again for the TPA without the worker’s rights and assistance that they TAA offers, Senate Democrats may be more hesitant to vote for “fast track” this time around. But the struggle is not over yet, since the plan still faces some procedural hurdles and Democratic resistance.
