[CTC] Biden coaxes Dems on Obama trade deal

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Two articles below re: Biden becoming admin’s leading pitchman for TPP and President’s legislative chief from Fast Track fight stepping down...


http://thehill.com/homenews/house/267420-biden-coaxes-dems-on-obama-trade-deal

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By Mike Lillis <http://thehill.com/author/mike-lillis> - 01/28/16 05:15 PM EST
BALTIMORE — Democratic critics of President Obama's trade agenda got a playful warning from Joe Biden on Thursday, when the vice president announced that he'll be the administration's leading pitchman for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

“I know a lot of you don't like TPP, but you're going to have to see me,” Biden told scores of House Democrats gathered in Baltimore for their yearly retreat. “I apologize, because they think we get along with each other, so they're sending me.”

The room erupted in laughter.
“I hope we get along,” Biden quickly added.

The TPP — a sweeping 12-nation accord that would affect as much as 40 percent of the global economy — is among Obama's top legislative priorities as he navigates his last year in the White House. But many of the president's closest liberal allies on Capitol Hill have hammered the agreement with warnings that it will eliminate jobs at home, harm workers overseas, threaten food safety and damage the environment, among a long list of other concerns.

Both former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the leading Democratic presidential hopefuls, have also voiced their opposition to the accord.

The dynamics have left Democratic leaders in a tough position, caught between the vocal opposition of their liberal base and the inclination to help Obama achieve a big victory in his final months in office.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has so far remained noncommittal, saying Wednesday that she and other Democrats are still examining the agreement. Pelosi last year had opposed a trade-promotion authority (TPA) bill, known as fast-track, which the administration viewed as vital to securing the TPP because it prevents Congress from amending or filibustering the president's trade deals. 

“What I’ve said to members is, ‘A vote on fast track is one vote; now, you review TPP in its substance,’ ” Pelosi told reporters in Baltimore. “And we’ll see what the decisions are as members are studying it.”

The TPA bill passed; the TPP bill has not yet reached the floor of either chamber.

Asked if she expects a vote on the TPP this spring, Pelosi said, "I have no idea."

The administration, meanwhile, maintains that the TPP is vital if the United States and other Pacific Rim allies hope to contain China's influence over trade policy in the region. It's an argument Biden amplified to the Democrats on Thursday.

“All kidding aside, from a strategic foreign policy standpoint ... China has no option if we pass this,” Biden said. “Their leverage gets removed.”


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/267519-obamas-legislative-chief-stepping-down

January 29, 2016, 12:00 pm
Obama's legislative chief stepping down
By Jordan Fabian

Katie Beirne Fallon, the chief of President Obama’s legislative affairs operation, is leaving the White House, a major loss for the president’s team.

“Republicans and Democrats in Congress have their differences - but when it comes to Katie, they're united in their admiration and respect,” Obama said in a statement Friday.

“She came into her role at a time when we needed to build up our relationships with folks in both parties,” he added. “And from bipartisan budget agreements, to protecting a deal that will prevent a nuclear Iran, to ensuring the long-stalled Ex-Im and IMF reforms were enacted, we simply could not have made the progress we've made without her.”

Katie Beirne Fallon, the chief of President Obama’s legislative affairs operation, is leaving the White House, a major loss for the president’s team.

“Republicans and Democrats in Congress have their differences - but when it comes to Katie, they're united in their admiration and respect,” Obama said in a statement Friday.

“She came into her role at a time when we needed to build up our relationships with folks in both parties,” he added. “And from bipartisan budget agreements, to protecting a deal that will prevent a nuclear Iran, to ensuring the long-stalled Ex-Im and IMF reforms were enacted, we simply could not have made the progress we've made without her.”

The White House’s current deputy director of legislative affairs, Amy Rosenbaum, will take over Fallon's post. Before joining the White House staff, she worked as an aide to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
Obama said “there's nobody better prepared to step into this role" than Rosenbaum.

Fallon’s departure could complicate White House efforts to get Congress to pass the remaining items on Obama’s agenda during his final year in office.

It's also a reflection of the president's pared down to-do list for lawmakers, a bow to election-year gridlock and Republican control of both sides of Capitol Hill.

Fallon became a trusted adviser during her two years in the White House. The former aide to Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) leveraged her ties to Capitol Hill to help Obama achieve victories on trade promotion authority, the Iran nuclear deal and a budget agreement last year.

Obama’s 2016 agenda is far less ambitious, but still includes two big-ticket items: the Trans-Pacific Partnership and an overhaul of the nation’s sentencing laws.

Fallon gave birth to twins last April and she told close friends and West Wing colleagues last year she was planning to stay through the end of 2015 to ensure passage of key items on the president’s agenda, according to a White House official. Her husband, Brian Fallon, is often on the road as a top spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

"Katie is a rare talent, capable of getting hard things done but never forgetting or compromising why we are doing those hard things: to make sure working families get the shots she got. We will miss her - I will miss her,” chief of staff Denis McDonough said in a statement.

The president named Fallon his director of legislative affairs in 2013, following a tumultuous year that saw his efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform and gun-control legislation stall in Congress.

Aides praised Fallon’s dogged work ethic. One official noted she went into labor while working at the White House and was escorted to the hospital by McDonough. Fallon participated in conference calls on the trade promotion authority bill while in the hospital after giving birth.

Reid, the Senate minority leader, said Friday that “none of the victories we secured in recent years would have been possible without her.”

“I have relied on her sharp insight, shrewd judgment and steadiness under pressure for years, first during her tenure here in the Senate and more recently in her roles with the administration,” he said in a statement.

Schumer called Fallon "the most popular staffer the administration has had" on Capitol Hil.

"Katie was the go to person when you wanted an open ear and the ability to get things done," he said.

Pelosi praised Fallon's successor, Rosenbaum, for her “depth of knowledge and integrity” in helping pass some of Obama’s biggest priorities, including his healthcare law.

"As she takes the helm of President Obama's legislative affairs team, I have full confidence that Amy will continue to drive vital progress for working families in the Congress,” she said in a statement. 

“Despite our political differences @Katie44 is one of the best people I've worked with. @WhiteHouse will miss her,” tweeted <https://twitter.com/ironmikesommers/status/693120480665010176> Mike Sommers, who served as chief of staff to former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).  


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