[CTC] Senate nearing deal to pass trade bills

Wed May 13 11:01:50 PDT 2015

Politico
Senate nearing deal to pass trade bills
The latest offers will be chewed over at party lunches and in private phone calls, with a deal possible by Wednesday afternoon.

By Burgess Everett <http://www.politico.com/reporters/BurgessEverett.html>
5/13/15 11:54 AM EDT
Updated 5/13/15 1:22 PM EDT

Senate leaders are moving toward a deal on President Barack Obama’s trade initiative after a failed Tuesday vote prompted a furious round of negotiating on Wednesday.

The parties have been trading offers after Democrats rejected a fast-track trade bill on Tuesday. The latest bid from Republicans would give Democrats a chance to vote on several of their trade priorities as standalone bills, in addition to the fast-track measure.

The horse-trading and latest offers will be chewed over at party lunches and in private phone calls, with a deal possible by Wednesday afternoon.

“We’ll maybe have an announcement later today as to how we can move forward. We’re trying,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). “We’re getting close.”
Democrats say Republicans have offered separate votes on several Democratic priorities, including a customs enforcement bill that includes currency manipulation currency language and the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which provides duty-free access for sub-Saharan African countries to sell many goods in the United States.

After those are dispensed with, the Senate would proceed to vote on a trade assistance bill intended to help U.S. workers affected by trade agreements and the fast-track package, according to details provided by a source familiar with the offer.

That came after Reid and Democratic No. 3 Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) floated a plan to vote on the bills as a single package, including the fast-track authority viewed as critical to Obama, but without a currency manipulation provision that could kill the bill in the House. That was summarily rejected by Republicans as yet another attempt by Democrats to dictate
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s agenda after orchestrating a nearly unanimous filibuster on Tuesday aimed at extracting more concessions from the GOP.

“That’s not acceptable,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) in an interview. “We’re not willing to change that deal. Plus we’re not willing to let Democrats run the place. They seem to think that they’re still in the majority and that Sen. Reid is the majority leader. He is not.”

Republicans say they’ve already compromised with pro-trade Democrats by adding Trade Adjustment Assistance to the fast-track Trade Promotion Authority bill, so adding an African trade bill and a customs enforcement measure to the package— even without the poison pill currency language — is not going to fly.

Instead McConnell (R-Ky) has publicly offered to let Democrats vote on their priorities as amendments to the TAA/TPA trade package. They’ve also discussed allowing a vote on the currency provision, either as an amendment to the bill or possibly separately.

“I don’t know why they’re not satisfied by that,” Cornyn said. “We’re continuing to talk about a way forward and I’m actually pretty optimistic we can.”

Republicans privately predicted that a customs bill stripped of currency manipulation language would easily pass the Senate, as would the African Growth and Opportunity Act. But if they were separated out of the package and passed as standalones, they could be ignored by the House or the president and risk not becoming law.

GOP sources said it was nearly assured that there would be one or more controversial votes aimed at cracking down on countries that manipulate their currency if there’s agreement to debate the trade bill. Many pro-trade lawmakers and White House officials believe it could lead to designating China as a currency manipulator and harm the emerging pact on the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Top officials in both parties differed on what was the latest offer exchanged, but the Senate is clearly trying to find a sweet spot to open debate on the bill. Republicans will discuss the rapid exchange of offers at party lunches on Wednesday afternoon, and the Senate will vote on a nomination afterward to get all 100 senators in the same room and allow pro-trade Democrats to speak with Republicans directly on a way forward.

GOP leaders are less interested in dealing with Reid and Schumer and are trying to strike a deal with about 15 Democrats who could support the trade bills, although Tuesday’s stunning vote result shows that the leaders’ grip over the caucus may make it impossible to strike a deal with anyone but Reid and Schumer.

Though it’s likely impossible to finish the trade package this month given the need to renew highway and surveillance laws before Memorial Day, lawmakers are scrambling to produce a result before the recess. Pro-trade Democrats were summoned to the White House Tuesday afternoon after blocking the trade package, then met privately on Wednesday morning.

Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), perhaps the pivotal Democrat on trade, “have not stopped” talking about a way to break the logjam, Wyden said in an interview, even after Hatch lambasted Wyden for changing the terms of their deal on trade assistance and fast-track.

“We have been working with Democrats and Republicans pretty much non-stop since yesterday,” Wyden said. “There are a number of discussions going on about the path forward. What I will tell you is failing on this is completely unacceptable.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/trade-bill-standoff-senate-117900.html#ixzz3a2atQ2HR <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/trade-bill-standoff-senate-117900.html#ixzz3a2atQ2HR>
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