[CTC] Pelosi Says Caucus Debate On Trade Not A Rejection Of Obama Priorities

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Inside U.S. Trade - 05/01/2015
Pelosi Says Caucus Debate On Trade Not A Rejection Of Obama Priorities
Posted: April 30, 2015
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) last week rejected the notion that the intense debate over fast-track negotiating authority now going on in the Democratic Caucus is somehow a rejection of President Obama's priorities, and also the idea that it differs from past debates.

In her April 23 press conference, she said that it is wrong to claim that Democrats supported President Bill Clinton on fast track and are not doing so with President Obama. She noted that fast track failed under Clinton in 1999 because only 29 Dems voted "yes" on the House floor.

In 2001, when President Bush sought fast-track negotiating authority, the bill prevailed by one vote, with 21 Democrats voting yes on the floor. The bill passed with a vote of 215-214, reflecting a division within the Republican caucus, she said.

"So, I wanted just to say we've always had a kind of lively debate on the subject [of trade] on the substance, regardless of who was president of the United States," she said. So it "simply is not the case" that Democrats stuck with Clinton on trade, but are not sticking with Obama, Pelosi added.

She was also adamant that her efforts to improve the fast-track bill approved by the House Ways & Means Committee on April 23 is not an effort to lobby against a priority of the president. "I am not opposing the president," she said. "I think the president wants what we want, which is a [Trans-Pacific Partnership]."

She emphasized she is focused on the substance of this agreement, and what it will do for the paycheck of American workers whose wages have stagnated. She reiterated her support for a substitute fast-track bill offered by Ways & Means Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) that would lay out specific negotiating instructions for the TPP.

"I am not lobbying anything except for us to arrive at an agreement where we can have 150 Democratic votes for the bill," she said. "But that may not be possible."

National Foreign Trade Council President Bill Reinsch told reporters on April 24 that House Democrats will likely have the opportunity during the House floor debate on the fast-track bill to offer a motion to recommit the legislation to Ways & Means with instructions.

They could use that opportunity to bring up a motion directing Ways & Means to report out the Levin substitute bill instead, he said. The decision on whether to do so will likely be made by Pelosi and Levin, according to Reinsch.

In press conferences on April 23 and April 30, Pelosi said Democratic members are concerned about being able to discipline currency manipulation in TPP, about ensuring TPP improves on the North American Free Trade Agreement with respect to disciplines on Mexico, state-owned enterprises, and about workers' rights in a country like Vietnam.

On April 23, Pelosi said environment, food safety and market access are among the issues not yet resolved in TPP.

Pelosi at that time said she is still working to improve the fast-track bill approved by the two trade committees, but acknowledged that may not be possible depending on the vote count.

"If [Republicans] have 218 votes, they don't have to care about [Democratic input]," she said. "And if they do not have 218, we have a further opportunity to say where are some areas that we can come together … ," she said.

She said she expected some "bumps" in the road to getting to a good bill, but described the committee-approved bill as a "pothole" rather than a bump.


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