[CTC] Senate strikes deal to pass fast-track trade bill

Wed May 13 13:13:35 PDT 2015

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/trade-bill-standoff-senate-117900.html?hp=t1_r

Senate strikes deal to pass fast-track trade bill
The agreement would give Democrats a chance to vote on two of their trade priorities as standalone bills.
By BURGESS EVERETT <http://www.politico.com/reporters/BurgessEverett.html> 5/13/15 11:54 AM EDT Updated 5/13/15 3:02 PM EDT
Senate leaders have reached a deal to advance President Barack Obama’s trade initiative after a failed vote prompted a furious round of negotiating on Wednesday.
After trading offers throughout the night, party leaders agreed to vote on a fast-track trade bill that was blocked just 24 hours before by Democrats who’d wanted more assurances that their priorities would also be considered.

The agreement, announced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on the Senate floor, would give Democrats a chance to vote on two of their trade priorities as standalone bills, in addition to the fast-track measure.

Holding the additional votes would “not imperil” the fast-track bill, McConnell said. Republicans, pro-trade Democrats and the president all say the Trade Promotion Authority measure, which would allow the president to expedite trade pacts through Congress, is vital for approving a huge Pacific Rim trade agreement currently being negotiated by the administration.

“We have to take some of these votes separately or we kill the underlying legislation,” McConnell said. “It’s reasonable. and I look forward to our colleagues from across the aisle joining with us.”

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who’d engineered Tuesday’s filibuster, thanked McConnell for locking in votes that Democrats had been pining for.
“I think we’ve come up with something that’s fair,” Reid said.

Though the agreement locks in votes on worker protections, it stops short of what Democrats were demanding on Tuesday: A guarantee they will become law by attaching them to the Trade Promotion Authority legislation.

Instead, a customs enforcement bill that includes currency manipulation 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, will move by themselves.

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.

The horse-trading and was chewed over at party lunches and in private phone calls, after Republicans made a counter-offer to Reid and Democratic No. 3 Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). The two powerful Democrats had 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 said 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 — was never going to fly.

Republicans privately predicted that a customs bill stripped of problematic currency manipulation language would easily pass the Senate, as would the African Growth and Opportunity Act. But the customs bill could still have trouble depending on how exactly language intend to crack down on currency cheaters is dealt with.

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.

GOP leaders were less interested in dealing with Reid and Schumer and tried to strike a deal with about 15 Democrats who could support the trade bills. But ultimately they were forced to deal with Reid and Schumer, who flexed their muscles during a stunning Tuesday vote that sent a message to the GOP that it would be impossible to move forward without their buy-in, even though they won’t ultimately support the trade bill.

“You have to remember, not everybody who’s making these proposals actually want us to pass TPA,” Cornyn said.

Though it may be 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, never 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. “Failing on this is completely unacceptable.”

Hatch was less enthused, even after it was clear his cherished trade bill would move forward. The octogenarian told reporters the whole episode had nearly driven him mad.
“I’m about ready to kill somebody,” he said as he entered the Senate chamber to vote and hear the particulars of the agreement.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/trade-bill-standoff-senate-117900.html#ixzz3a3FcyFMS <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/trade-bill-standoff-senate-117900.html#ixzz3a3FcyFMS>
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