WASHINGTON – President Obama won the vote but may have lost the war.That’s because a key provision of the bill went down to a resounding defeat on a separate vote of of 302 to 126. And that provision was part of the Trade Promotion Authority, or TPA, bill already passed by the Senate.
The vote also means the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, a monumental but controversial trade deal between the U.S. and Pacific Rim nations, is likely dead, after Obama and business interests spent months lobbying for it.
After Friday’s vote, it is back to the drawing board for the president and the bill’s supporters in Congress. They will either have to try again to drum up the needed votes, or the bill will die for good.
The key turning point appeared to come when House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., declared her opposition to the bill, after appearing earlier in the day with Obama.
The president was so desperate to save his far-reaching trade bill that he went to Congress Friday morning to plead with fellow Democrats for their support – with Pelosi by his side.
But just before the vote, she declared, “I will be voting to slow down fast-track,” adding, “Today, we have an opportunity to slow down. Whatever the deal is with other countries, we want a better deal for American workers.”
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TPA would have given Obama the power to negotiate massive trade deals with other countries, cut Congress out of the negotiations and limit lawmakers’ participation to a simple yes or no vote when such treaties are concluded.
Desperate business-friendly GOP House leaders employed a strategy of separating from the main bill a provision objectionable to many conservatives and Democrats, but for opposite reasons.
That provision was Trade Adjustment Assistance, or TAA, which would have provided money to workers who had lost their jobs, ostensibly as a result of foreign trade.
Democrats wanted the assistance extended to public-sector workers, while conservatives wanted the provision eliminated entirely.
In an interview with WND this week, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, blasted the TAA provision as “a several billion dollar social-welfare giveaway program.”
“If you believe in trade, then you don’t need a social welfare system saying that the jobs are going to be lost,” Jordan said. “We believe trade creates jobs. If you believe that, why do you have a social welfare giveaway as part of the deal?”
GOP House leaders concocted a plan to have separate votes on TPA and TAA on Friday.
They had expected TAA would pass with a majority of votes from Democrats, but Pelosi’s opposition thwarted that.
Perhaps sensing what was coming, the president did not seem optimistic after speaking with House Democrats at a morning caucus.
Asked about the trade bill vote after he emerged from the meeting room at 10:35 a.m., the president said, “I don’t think you ever nail anything down around here. It’s always moving.”
The administration had been counting on Pelosi, but unions had sworn to take revenge on their Democrat allies in Congress who supported the bill, by running attack ads and supporting other candidates, come elections.
In a tweet after the vote, AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka, called Pelosi “a champion for workers.”
GOP House leaders supported the bill, but they didn’t have enough rank-and-file Republican lawmakers to pass it without the votes of roughly two-dozen Democrats.
That put Obama in the odd position of having the support of Republicans while having to either beg or twist the arms of his fellow Democrats.
On Thursday, the president’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough, was on the Hill “begging congressional Democrats to support TPA,” a well-placed Capitol Hill source told WND.
After that, Democrats favoring the bill invited virtually every Cabinet member to lobby lawmakers.
The demise of the TPA, which would have given the president fast-track negotiating authority, was likely due, at least in part, to the unpopularity of the TPP, the far-reaching trade deal between the U.S. and Pacific Rim nations currently under negotiation.
TPP appeared to have something to dislike for everyone across the political spectrum.
- Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., was concerned it would turn over important congressional powers to a new international body, create an economic union akin to a “nascent European Union,” and prevent lawmakers from removing any objectionable provisions. He was also alarmed that the deal could be used to accelerate the immigration of foreign workers at a time when Americans are hurting for jobs.
- Unions such as the powerful AFL-CIO were also concerned it would hurt the American job market and depress wages.
- Environmentalists feared the deal would lead to lax protections.
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said the deal would benefit large corporations and banks at the expense of the middle class.
- She and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., also criticized the secrecy of the details in the deal.
- That put those ultra-liberals on the same side as die-hard conservative Rush Limbaugh, who said having Congress vote on a bill the American people can’t even read should be enough to oppose it.
- And presidential candidate Mike Huckabee told WND on Monday, “President Obama can’t be trusted to negotiate a deal on a secondhand Subaru, let alone a trillion-dollar trade deal like TPP.”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/06/obamatrade-in-big-trouble/#lbfmODuuWisJpfz4.99
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