[CTC] Obama, Ryan, McConnell Fail To Bridge Gaps On TPP; Agree To Continue Talking

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Obama, Ryan, McConnell Fail To Bridge Gaps On TPP; Agree To Continue Talking

Inside US Trade; February 02, 2016 
President Obama and Republican congressional leaders during a closed-door meeting at the White House on Tuesday (Feb. 2) agreed to continue discussions on the path forward for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in Congress after they were unable to bridge the gaps in their positions on when the deal should come up for a vote.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made clear to reporters after the meeting that he is sticking to his position that Congress should not consider TPP prior to the November election, and for the first time raised doubts about whether it should come up in the lame-duck session. He also reiterated that he has some problems with TPP.

By contrast, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest drove home the point that President Obama wants Congress to act on the TPP as soon as possible, although he repeatedly stated that the administration has not laid out a firm deadline for a congressional vote.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-OH) issued a statement after the meeting that did not address the timing of a TPP vote, but said the participants had discussed “number of concerns that lawmakers have raised about the substance of TPP that must still be addressed.” Ryan has previously said that he believes a TPP vote is possible <http://insidetrade.com/node/151730> in 2016, but that he does not know when it would take place.

McConnell said his “advice” is that Congress not vote on TPP prior to the election in part because the two Democratic presidential candidates and several Republican candidates oppose the agreement.

With respect to a lame-duck vote, McConnell signaled it may not be fair to constituents to take a vote on a controversial issue such as trade after they cast their votes for who should represent them in Congress.

“And then some would argue it's not fair to -- to the voters for them not to consider what you might do after the election. So what we agreed [in the meeting with Obama] to do is continue to talk about it,” McConnell said.

Earnest said during his daily press briefing on Feb. 2 that participants in the meeting had a “general discussion about timing for considering congressional votes” on TPP. “We're obviously not there yet because there are some additional steps that … this agreement has to go through before it can be presented to Congress,” Earnest said.

He noted that one of those steps is the signing of the TPP agreement, which is slated to take place on Feb. 3 U.S. time in New Zealand.

Earnest signaled that the president would continue to discuss path forward for TPP with the Republican congressional leaders. “There is an opportunity to discuss the path forward there, and obviously, the president is eager to see Congress take that action as soon as possible this year so that the U.S. economy and U.S. businesses and American workers can start enjoying the benefits … of that agreement,” he said.

Earnest said both Ryan and McConnell are “obviously committed supporters of an agreement that would cut taxes on 18,000 American goods that are imposed by other countries.”

But McConnell and Ryan have not publicly endorsed or opposed TPP, and instead have stressed that the deal has flaws that need to be addressed.

McConnell on Tuesday took a measured approach to describing their positions. “The speaker's a free trader. I'm a free trader, and obviously, the president is as well. There are a number of flaws here. We're gonna keep on talking about it and seeing if there is a way forward,” he said.

TPP was just one of a range of issues discussed during the meeting, in which Vice President Joe Biden also took part. Others included Puerto Rico's debt crisis, fighting the opioid epidemic, criminal justice reform, the administration's cancer “moon shot” initiative, the Zika virus, and the administration's new visa waiver program, according to Earnest and the readout from Ryan's office.

 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20160203/762f9f62/attachment.htm>