[CTC] Obama Signals TPP To Move Forward After Election Cycle Ends

[Arthur Stamoulis]

INSIDE US TRADE
Obama Signals TPP To Move Forward After Election Cycle Ends
April 25, 2016

President Obama this week said the prospects for congressional approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership will be best after the election season ends, signaling that the White House still believes it can successfully navigate political headwinds and push the trade agreement through Congress this year.

“And with respect to Congress and Trans-Pacific Partnership, I think after the primary season is over the politics settle down a little bit in Congress, and we'll be in a position to start moving forward,” Obama said on Sunday (April 24) in Germany at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. 

“But I think we all know that elections can sometimes make things a little more challenging, and people take positions, in part, to protect themselves from attacks during the course of election season.”

“During presidential elections, it's always tough,” Obama said. “When we're in the heat of campaigns, people naturally are going to worry more about what's lost than what's gained with respect to trade agreements.”

Obama was responding to questions on whether an expected lame-duck session of Congress represents the earliest possible window for the administration to successfully push TPP, and his answer signals that he believes that to be the case.

The presidential primary season ends with the selection of nominees in mid-July. Most congressional primaries will be over by June although the Louisiana congressional primary falls on Nov. 8, the same day as the U.S. presidential and congressional election.

But Obama argued that his success in securing fast-track authority from Congress last summer proves that sufficient support for TPP exists. “I know that we have had a majority of members in the past who were in favor of this deal. Otherwise we wouldn't have gotten the authority for me to go ahead and fast-track this agreement,” he said.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Tom Donohue said at an April 25 press conference in Germany that a pre-lame duck TPP vote could put “four or five” Republican seats at risk and that the vote will be “the closest vote for the Senate in a long, long time.” For those reasons, Donohue said the Senate would likely vote after the November general election.

But Donohue was hopeful that the House would take up TPP before the lame duck, arguing that “it will be hard to cram two votes into a lame-duck issue.” 

Donohue was speaking with White House officials and other business executives at a press briefing in Hannover Messe, Germany, where Obama was visiting a trade show and generally making the case for TPP and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Donohue echoed Obama's argument that members of Congress are hesitant to support trade agreements during an election year because of heightened political sensitivities and signaled that any TPP vote would be extremely close. “In a tough economy, in an election year, nobody is in favor of trade,” Donohue said. “It seems it's something they can blame on everybody else, and so it's hard to get a vote."

“But when you do vote a trade bill, what you need is you need to win by two votes -- one vote to win, and one vote in case somebody dies on the way to the vote,” he said. “And everybody else can be excused from the vote. And we don't care how many we win by -- we only care that we win. And both of these votes will, in my opinion, be held before the end of this administration.”

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Monday (April 25) said the White House is consulting with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on how best to both move TPP forward in Congress as well as how to address outstanding complaints regarding the substance of the agreement.

“Well, what I can just say is that as it relates to the TPP generally, there are a number of conversations that we're having with both Democrats and Republicans about the most effective way to move the agreement forward in Congress,” Earnest told reporters. “And we're going to continue to consult with the leadership as it relates to our vote-getting strategy."

“We certainly are also engaged on the substance,” Earnest said. “It's not just about the process, but also on the substance. And there are a number of members of Congress who have demonstrated an interest in particular areas of the agreement."

Republican leadership, including Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), and other sources have said there are not enough votes currently for Congress to approve TPP and that outstanding complaints must be resolved before a vote. The major complaints relate to the length of the market protection period for biologic drugs, carveout of anti-tobacco measures from investor-state dispute settlement, and lack of a ban on data localization requirements for financial services companies.
 
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20160426/8c9b5bb9/attachment.htm>