<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1;"><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">POLITICO<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;" class="">Sen. Baldwin takes aim at Brunei’s anti-gay laws<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">5/19/15 2:08 PM EDT<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Sen. Tammy Baldwin has offered an amendment to a trade promotion authority bill that would strip “fast track” protection for any trade deals with countries that criminalize homosexuality.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">The measure is one of nearly 150 amendments that have been filed to the trade bill, but Republican and Democratic leaders are currently in talks to limit the number that would receive votes.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Brunei, one of the 12 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, announced last year that it was implementing a tough <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27216798" target="_blank" style="color: purple;" class="">Islamic penal code</a> over the next three years that mandates harsh punishments for homosexuality. The measure has already helped galvanize opposition to the proposed TPP pact.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Baldwin’s amendment would bar fast-track procedures for trade agreements with any country that “criminalizes homosexuality or persecutes or otherwise punishes individuals on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity,” as identified by the State Department in its annual human rights report.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><em class="">— Doug Palmer</em><o:p class=""></o:p></p><div class=""><em class=""><br class=""></em></div></div></body></html>