[CTC] Baucus cynically links TAA to Fast Track

[Dolan Mike]

He is so predictable.

 

CQ NEWS
April 2, 2013 - 12:29 p.m.

Baucus Makes Trade Adjustment Assistance Renewal a Priority

By Ben Weyl, CQ Roll Call

As Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus <http://www.cq.com/person/287>
prepares a push to renew fast-track trade negotiating authority, he
could return to the previously successful strategy of simultaneously
seeking to reauthorize a worker assistance program as a sweetener for
trade skeptics in his own party.

But the Montana Democrat might find a cooler response this time from
both the left and right - with organized labor not appeased and
Republicans reluctant to support the program's costs.

At a Senate Finance Committee hearing last month, Baucus explicitly
linked trade promotion authority, which provides for expedited
consideration of trade deals, with trade adjustment assistance, which
aids workers displaced by global trade.

"TPA and TAA are two sides of the same coin - making trade work," Baucus
said. "We need to renew and extend both of them this year."

President Barack Obama <http://www.cq.com/person/7612>  is pursuing a
newly ambitious trade agenda, having just launched negotiations with the
European Union and with hopes of concluding a wide-ranging agreement
with almost a dozen Pacific Rim countries this year.

If U.S. negotiators are able to finalize those agreements, the
administration will then have to get them through a divided Congress.
Having fast-track trade authority, which lapsed in 2007, is a necessity
because it eliminates many procedural roadblocks, especially in the
Senate.

Under fast-track rules, a trade deal must receive an up-or-down vote in
both chambers, without amendment, within 90 days of being submitted by
the White House. Congress has never rejected a trade agreement submitted
under those procedures.

Obama has yet to aggressively seek renewal of trade promotion authority,
in part because his allies in labor and on Capitol Hill are wary of
easing the path for expanded global trade.

But with several deals on the horizon, the administration is now
signaling interest in passing a bill, to the delight of business groups,
which are eager to open markets abroad.

The administration called for renewing fast-track in its 2013 trade
policy agenda unveiled last month, and acting U.S. Trade Representative
Demetrios Marantis told senators at the Finance hearing that the
administration is "ready to begin having that conversation with you
now."

Meanwhile, the trade adjustment assistance program, which provides
benefits and services to help unemployed workers prepare for and obtain
new jobs, is set to expire Dec. 31.

The program is a top priority for Democrats, who insisted on a
reauthorization in return for passage of long-stalled trade deals with
South Korea, Colombia and Panama in 2011.

Baucus' plan to link two initiatives would be "a clever move
tactically," said one top business advocate.

The two have been linked before. Extending trade adjustment assistance
played a crucial role in President George W. Bush's campaign to enact
the 2002 law (PL 107-210 <http://www.cq.com/law/107/210> ) renewing
trade promotion authority. President Bill Clinton also successfully
demanded an expansion of worker assistance programs as part of passage
of the North American Free Trade Agreement (PL 103-182
<http://www.cq.com/law/103/182> ).

Sen. Sherrod Brown <http://www.cq.com/person/384> , an Ohio Democrat who
has often opposed trade deals, signaled he might be open to such a trade
at the Finance hearing.

"The administration says ... shift the power of trade to us ... give us
all this authority to negotiate," he said. "What we want in return is
maybe trade adjustment assistance."

Organized labor, however, isn't ready to make such a swap.

"We would prefer that they are not linked that closely," said Celeste
Drake, who works on trade policy for the AFL-CIO.

"TAA is an ongoing program that workers are going to need in response to
all of our current trade policy," she said. "It doesn't sort of make up
for" future agreements that might cost U.S. jobs.

Drake said the AFL-CIO is warily eyeing talk of renewing fast-track
authority and emphasized that adding trade adjustment assistance would
not secure labor's support for fast-track.

The AFL-CIO Executive Council issued a statement in February expressing
"deep concern" with the state of the Trans-Pacific Partnership
negotiations. If labor does end up opposing the trade deal - assuming
the countries can come to an agreement - it would almost certainly
oppose fast-track as well.

It's also unclear if Baucus would find partners across the aisle for his
legislative strategy. Congressional Republicans have long criticized
Obama for not requesting fast-track authority, but they may not support
tying it to a reauthorization of trade adjustment assistance this time.

"We already acted on TAA in 2009 in the stimulus and again in 2011. We
need to move on TPA," Julia Lawless, a spokeswoman for Sen. Orrin G.
Hatch <http://www.cq.com/person/493>  of Utah, the ranking Republican on
the Finance panel, said in response to a question about linking the two.

A spokesman for Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp
<http://www.cq.com/person/243> , R-Mich., said, "The chairman is focused
on developing bipartisan TPA."

Even if GOP leaders can be brought aboard, many rank-and-file
Republicans are sure to balk at reauthorizing trade adjustment
assistance.

The program has existed for decades and historically won bipartisan
backing. But it became a GOP target after it was expanded in the 2009
stimulus law (PL 111-5 <http://www.cq.com/law/111/5> ) to cover
service-sector workers and to increase a health care tax credit for
unemployed workers. Conservative critics argue the program is
ineffective and too expensive.

In 2011, as part of a White House-Congress compromise to pass the three
trade agreements and reauthorize trade adjustment assistance, the
program's benefits were slightly pared down. That did little to mollify
critics; a majority of Senate and House Republicans still voted against
the bill (PL 112-40 <http://www.cq.com/law/112/40> ).

Source: CQ News

 

 

 

 

Michael F. Dolan, J.D.

Legislative Representative

International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Desk  202.624.6891

Fax    202.624.8973

Cell    202.437.2254

 

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