[CTC] Lew: WH is "absolutely" making a Lame Duck TPP push

[Arthur Stamoulis]

POLITICO
 Lew 'optimistic' TPP can pass after administration's lame-duck push
By Megan Cassella 
09/12/2016 10:52 AM EDT

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said today he is "optimistic" that Congress will pass the TPP after the White House makes its case, adding that the Obama administration will "absolutely" be making a push for the deal during the lame-duck session.

"Why am I optimistic that TPP can pass? I understand the political environment is a rough one," Lew said at a Council on Foreign Relations event <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e491d21605530a61c1bc6ada35bd48772283177a8141d7da961edb8e1379af67> in New York. "Even with the political environment we're in, I know that when you have a president and an administration pushing as hard as we will be for TPP, we're going to have an opportunity - albeit a small one - to get this done in the remaining months that we have."

Lew said part of the reason he thinks the deal will pass is that a majority of Congress voted in favor of trade promotion authority legislation last year, and that was merely an "abstract proposition."

"TPP is a specific product where I can sit and make the argument on issue after issue how it addresses the concerns that people had when they voted for TPA," Lew said. "If there weren't a larger political debate, I'd be very confident we could pass TPP because I know it meets the test that we set out."

To gain support, the administration needs to illustrate to working- and middle-class families how trade can help them, he said.

"Have we done a good job ... making it clear that the benefits of a growing economy that's fueled by trade get to working people?" Lew asked. "I think we have more work to do."


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