[CTC] McConnell Clips: No TPP Ratification Vote before 2016 Election?

[Dolan, Mike]

Washington Post, Politico, The Hill …
“"The next president, whoever that is, will have the authority to either revisit this one, if it doesn't pass, or finish the European [Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership] deal or other deals, and give Congress a chance to weigh in on it," McConnell said.”


McConnell warns that trade deal can’t pass Congress before 2016 elections
Washington Post
By Paul Kane and David Nakamura
December 10, 2015
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mcconnell-warns-that-trade-deal-cant-pass-congress-before-2016-elections/2015/12/10/b8151f26-9f66-11e5-8728-1af6af208198_story.html

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) dealt a significant blow to President Obama’s global trade agenda Thursday, declaring that a sweeping pact with 11 Pacific Rim nations should not be sent to Congress for approval until after the 2016 elections — and maybe not until after Obama leaves office.

McConnell, who previously supported efforts to enhance Obama’s trade negotiating powers, signaled that he was undecided on how he would vote on the deal, but he was clear that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would be defeated if it were sent to Capitol Hill next spring or summer, as the administration was planning to do.

“It certainly shouldn’t come before the election. I don’t think so, and I have some serious problems with what I think it is,” McConnell said in an exclusive interview with The Washington Post. “But I think the president would be making a big mistake to try to have that voted on during the election. There’s significant pushback all over the place.”

McConnell’s resistance to moving the pact casts doubt on whether Obama will be able to secure approval for the largest such trade deal ever considered, and one that the president had hoped would be among his final legacy-burnishing efforts. A year into his new role, McConnell also sought to more broadly tamp down expectations for any other breakthrough legislative accomplishments — “I’d be surprised” — before Obama finishes his term in January 2017.

His remarks were the bluntest public statement of doubt on the TPP’s prospects from Republican leadership, which has offered little support since the administration announced in October that a final deal had been reached among the 12 nations.

The White House had hoped that the GOP’s strong support in June for “fast track” trade legislation, which granted Obama additional powers to complete the pact, would ease the path for final ratification by forging a partnership between the president and his Republican rivals. Obama has championed the trade pact despite fierce opposition from most Democratic lawmakers, labor unions and environmental groups.

“Yeah, I think it would be a big mistake to send it up before the election,” McConnell said in the interview. He noted that the trade authority Congress approved also gives the next president fast-track authority to secure global deals throughout the first term of that administration. “The next president, whoever that is, will have the authority to either revisit this one, if it doesn’t pass, or finish the European deal or other deals, and give Congress a chance to weigh in on it,” McConnell said.

Under the terms of the fast-track legislation, Obama must wait 90 days after the announcement of the final TPP agreement before signing the pact and sending it to Congress; that could happen by Feb. 4. Lawmakers would then work with the administration to determine when a vote would take place. Obama aides have said that could come by late March at the earliest.

“We will continue working with Congressional leaders to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership as soon as possible next year,” Brandi Hoffine, a White House spokeswoman, said in an email Thursday when asked about McConnell’s comments. “We don’t see any reason to delay the 18,000 tax cuts [through tariff reductions] on Made in America exports in TPP that will benefit our workers and businesses. Our competitors, including China, aren’t standing on the sidelines on trade, we shouldn’t be either.”

But McConnell, who said Thursday that he has relayed his concerns to Obama, is joined in his questioning of the deal by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), the Senate Finance Committee chairman, who was also a key supporter of the fast-track legislation. They have raised particular concerns about provisions related to tobacco and pharmaceutical companies.

Kentucky is one of the nation’s largest tobacco producers, and Utah has a growing pharmaceutical industry.

Their concerns have dampened enthusiasm among other Republicans, and the debate over trade policies on the 2016 campaign trail has also muddied the prospects for the TPP. Several top contenders for the GOP presidential nomination, including front-runner Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), have denounced the pact, and all of the Democratic candidates, including Hillary Clinton, oppose it.

Even if a more establishment-friendly Republican who supports trade deals emerges as the GOP nominee, the politics of approving the TPP are not likely to significantly improve. The presidential primary race could effectively be over by April, but most states will only then begin to hold their primary contests for congressional seats.

With liberal and conservative activists alike denouncing the deal, some trade supporters in Congress might fear taking that vote just as they face primary challenges.

Obama has continued to try to rally support for the pact, meeting last month with the leaders of the 11 other TPP countries during a visit to Manila.

“We’re going to discuss the road ahead to ensure that TPP is enacted in each of our countries as swiftly as possible,” Obama said before that meeting. “Obviously, execution is critical after we have arrived at the text. . . . This is not easy to do. The politics of any trade agreement are difficult.”

Administration officials said they are concerned that delays in Congress could lead to political complications in other countries with the deal, which was negotiated over more than five years. Some governments could decide to end their participation, especially if U.S. lawmakers begin asking for changes to the accord.

The TPP would lower tariffs on services and goods, including beef, pork, dairy and automobiles, and establish new regulatory provisions for newer industries, including financial services, pharmaceuticals and entertainment production companies. It would also regulate the flow of information and commerce over the Internet.

Obama has said the pact is central to his economic agenda, but it is also viewed inside the administration as an important foreign policy initiative to balance the growing economic clout of China. Although China is not among the TPP nations, Beijing has sought to expand its influence throughout the Asia Pacific.

The president met with several influential business leaders and elected officials at the White House last week. The business community has generally been supportive of the deal, but powerful groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have not formally endorsed the accord.

“We urge quick action,” said Xerox Chairman Ursula Burns, who attended that meeting. “We will put our full weight behind assuring that the members of Congress understand the fact that we really support TPP. Slowing down, in our opinion, doesn’t bring a lot to the table at all. . . . They’re listening, and we have to work hard on it.”

McConnell has balked over a provision that would bar tobacco companies from accessing an international tribunal established to settle disputes between TPP nations and multinational corporations seeking damages for profits lost because of changes in laws — stricter public health regulations on cigarettes, for example. Hatch has been concerned about provisions that would offer pharmaceutical companies that develop next-generation biologic drugs about eight years of protections for intellectual property, four years fewer than is currently available under U.S. laws.

Those two provisions were among the final compromises between the negotiators before the agreement was announced by trade ministers in Atlanta in October.

McConnell: TPP can't pass before election
Politico
By Doug Palmer
December 10, 2015
Behind paywall, text below

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell today warned President Barack Obama not to submit the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership deal to Congress before voters go to the polls in November 2016.

"It certainly shouldn't come before the election. I don't think so, and I have some serious problems with what I think it is," McConnell said in an interview with The Washington Post. "I think the president would be making a big mistake to try to have that voted on during the election. There's significant pushback all over the place."

The statement was the strongest the Kentucky Republican has made on the pact. It follows concerns expressed by a number of industries about details of the agreement, including Kentucky tobacco growers who are angry their industry will not be able to take advantage of certain investor protections to challenge anti-smoking regulations that they see as harmful to their foreign investments.

Congress is already unlikely to vote on the agreement until the U.S. International Trade Commission releases its study of the pact, which is expected May 18. Once that study is out, some supporters see a short window for possible congressional action before Republicans and Democrats hold their 2016 nominating conventions and Congress takes its month-long August break.

But McConnell indicated he was in no rush to consider the trade bill in its current form.

"The next president, whoever that is, will have the authority to either revisit this one, if it doesn't pass, or finish the European [Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership] deal or other deals, and give Congress a chance to weigh in on it," McConnell said.

"Yeah, I think it would be a big mistake to send it up before the election," he said.

McConnell deals blow to Obama TPP hopes
The Hill
By Vicki Needham
December 10, 2015
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/262896-mcconnell-crushes-hopes-for-tpp-vote-before-the-elections

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday crushed any hope that Congress could pass a sweeping Asia-Pacific trade agreement before the 2016 elections.

McConnell, who has expressed concerns about the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and has yet to take a stance, said President Obama is risking defeat of his signature trade deal if he tries to push for passage before a lame-duck session next year.

“It certainly shouldn’t come before the election," McConnell told The Washington Post in an interview.
"I think the president would be making a big mistake to try to have that voted on during the election. There’s significant pushback all over the place," he said.

Obama is already facing a slim margin of support in each chamber.

With minimal support from his own party, Republicans who granted Obama fast-track authority on trade deals have said support didn't mean automatic passage for the TPP pact.

“I think it would be a big mistake to send it up before the election,” McConnell said.

He also raised the specter that the deal may not get done before Obama leaves office, noting that the next president will have the same fast-track authority granted to Obama this summer.

"The next president, whoever that is, will have the authority to either revisit this one, if it doesn’t pass, or finish the European deal or other deals, and give Congress a chance to weigh in on it,” McConnell said.

While McConnell has expressed support in the past for trade, he has warned the White House not to target tobacco growers in a final deal.

The deal includes a provision that gives countries more power to regulate manufactured tobacco products, such as cigarettes, as part of any efforts to protect public health. Under the exemption, companies can’t challenge tobacco control measures under the Investor-State Dispute Settlement process.

The White House has argued that the tobacco provisions are narrowly focused on health issues and don't affect the trade of tobacco leaf.

But the move has already led to the loss of Republican votes on both sides of the Capitol.

The timeline for when Congress might receive the agreement is fluid.

Many supportive House Democrats have said there is a small window within the first three months of the year where they would feel comfortable voting for the TPP.

But if it can't be done quickly, then lawmakers such as Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) have said there would be no harm in waiting until the pressure of the elections is off in the lame-duck session.

And McConnell isn't the only Senate Republican throwing a wrench into the works.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who helped craft the fast-track legislation, has raised major concerns about the deal, especially for TPP's protections for high-tech medicines called biologics. Pharmaceutical companies pushed for the U.S. standard of 12 years of data protections, but got eight.

Hatch said he has met with U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and told him that he is willing to work with the White House, but some changes have to be made.

Hatch said Froman seemed open to working on several issues.




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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