[CTC] House Republicans inching toward Thursday vote on fast-track trade bill

[Arthur Stamoulis]

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-trade-congress-20150617-story.html <http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-trade-congress-20150617-story.html>
 
House Republicans inching toward Thursday vote on fast-track trade bill
 
The Los Angeles Times
By Lisa Mascaro
June 17, 2015
 
Trying to salvage President Obama's trade agenda, Republican leaders in Congress are moving toward a possible Thursday vote to approve a bill giving the president fast-track negotiating authority on its own, sidestepping most Democrats and leaving the future of a worker assistance program uncertain.

It's a risky move for Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), but one of the few options left if Congress intends to provide Obama with the authority the administration says it needs to finish negotiations on a sweeping 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal.

"Getting the trade bill finished is, frankly, a large priority of mine," Boehner said this week. "There are a lot of options on the table."

Under the emerging plan, the fast-track bill could be approved by the House as soon as Thursday and sent to the Senate, where it faces a tougher climb amid Democratic fears that a worker training program that had been coupled with the measure would be left behind.

If the fast-track bill, called Trade Promotion Authority, clears the Senate, it would sent to the White House for Obama to sign into law.

To allay concerns from Democrats who want to preserve the worker training program, the Senate would separately try to attach so-called Trade Adjustment Assistance, which provides the training funds, to a related trade bill and send it back to the House for final passage in that chamber.

Most Democrats, including party leaders, continue to oppose the fast-track bill, and the administration has largely maneuvered around them in pursuit of a deal with Republicans and a small slice of lawmakers from the president's party. Democratic House and Senate lawmakers were set to meet Wednesday afternoon before the White House hosted an annual congressional picnic.

"Senate Democrats see both programs as part of the deal and essential to the trade package," said a Senate Democratic aide. "There are concerns about sending TPA only to the Senate."

Trade policy was thrown into disarray last week when Democrats in the House, led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) delivered a surprise rebuke to the president by rejecting his trade package.

Democrats voted en masse against the worker assistance program, which they traditionally have supported, because they saw it as their best opportunity to halt the broader fast-track bill.

The fast-track bill, similar to those passed during previous administrations, would allow the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership and future trade deals to come to for a simple yes-or-no vote in Congress without amendment. It would extend for more than five years into the next presidency.

"I don't think it's even necessary," Pelosi said about fast-track authority during an interview on CNBC. "It's a convenience for the administration. It's an advantage for the business community. But it's a hardship for workers."

Democrats are worried that a trade deal will cost American jobs.

The original plan had been to pair the fast-track bill with an extension of the worker retraining program as a way to build bipartisan support for the broader trade package.

But after last week's setback, Republicans were feeling increasingly confident Wednesday that Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had engineered a path forward.

"Obviously there was a malfunction over in the House on Friday that we all watched with great interest," McConnell said. "We are not giving up."

Republicans were optimistic Wednesday that many of the 28 House Democrats who supported fast-track would do so again. Boehner met privately with about a dozen of them this week.

White House officials are calling those Democrats who backed fast-track, urging them to support the new strategy.

Less certain is if Boehner would be able to rely on any additional Republican votes. More than 50 House Republicans oppose fast-track and getting them to switch their votes to make up for possible Democratic defections is proving difficult.

Even if Boehner could usher the bill through the House, the plan is being met with deep skepticism by Senate Democrats, who worry the trade assistance program will stumble in the House.

While Republicans have 54 seats in the Senate, they must rely on Democrats to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to advance a fast-track bill. Support from almost a dozen Democrats would be needed.

Fourteen Democrats had supported fast-track when it passed the Senate with the training program.

"The Senate came up with a bipartisan approach," said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a chief architect of the trade package.

Democratic senators need assurances that the assistance program, which would probably be able to pass the Senate, would also be approved in the House.

Republicans largely oppose the Trade Adjustment Assistance program as wasteful and inefficient government pork.

But Republicans are hoping House Democrats will vote for the assistance program once the fast-track bill is already on Obama's desk to be signed into law.
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