[CTC] Obama Admin Claims TPP Has the Votes

[Arthur Stamoulis]

http://www.lifezette.com/polizette/obama-trade-rep-claims-tpp-votes/ <http://www.lifezette.com/polizette/obama-trade-rep-claims-tpp-votes/>
Obama Admin Claims TPP Has the Votes

U.S. trade representative signals a massive coming push for the 12-nation trade pact in the lame duck session

by Kathryn Blackhurst <http://www.lifezette.com/author/kathrynblackhurst/> | Updated 02 Nov 2016 at 4:58 PM

President Obama’s top trade official declared the deeply unpopular Trans-Pacific Partnership is not only still alive but that Congress has votes to pass it during an interview Tuesday with CNBC.

Claiming the 12-nation trade deal has “got the widest, broadest support across the economy,” U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman applauded members of Congress for allegedly “starting to see” the benefits the TPP supposedly offers. What Froman failed to mention, however, was the vehement, and rising opposition to TPP coming from both sides of the political aisle.

“If they [House and Senate leaders] bring it forward, I think we can get the votes there,” Froman told on “Squawk Box” on CNBC. “This trade agreement eliminates 18,000 taxes on our exports. And members of Congress are starting to see that.”


Froman added that, “Trade agreements … [are] how we shape the global economy and make sure that we have level playing field to compete.”

Critics of the trade pact were quick to note Froman’s interview is a signal the White House intends to try and ram through the TPP during the lame duck session.

"The Obama administration has made it clear they intend to push to get the Trans-Pacific Partnership approved in a lame duck session of Congress. This shows the hubris of the Washington elite and their utter contempt for the American people," Curtis Ellis, the executive director of the American Jobs Alliance, told LifeZette in an email.

"Americans from across the political spectrum and across the country understand the TPP will ship more jobs overseas and undermine our sovereignty," Ellis added. "But Obama, Clinton and their globalist fellow travelers don't care what the people want, they care what their donors want."

Despite the confidence coming from the administration, congressional leaders have been increasingly walking back previous support for the TPP, not coming around to backing the trade pact.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, once a chief proponent of the 12-nation agreement, has ruled out passing the TPP in its current form.

"I have my own problems with TPP. It is not ready," Ryan said in August.

Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, who also initially supported TPP, is on the record saying specifically that the trade pact will not come up for a vote in the lame duck session.

"The current agreement, the Trans-Pacific [Partnership], which has some serious flaws, will not be acted upon this year," McConnell said at a Kentucky State Farm Bureau breakfast back in August.

The loss of support from GOP leaders in Congress doesn't seem to concern the White House

"We’re doing all the preparatory work that we can, whether it’s meeting with individual members, working on outstanding issues, making sure that the [TPP implementing] bill and the reports and the statement of administrative action are all ready to go," Froman told "Morning Trade" Friday. "We have been very focused on doing all the things that are within our control to maximize the likelihood it gets approved in a lame duck."
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