Senate Democrats put brakes on TPA

Democratic Senators on Tuesday blocked legislation that would restore the president’s trade negotiating authority from going to the floor for a vote.    Senate Democrats on Tuesday stopped legislation that would have restored the president’s fast-track trade negotiating authority from going to the floor for a vote, citing ongoing concerns for small businesses, human rights and environmental standards.
   The action was a setback to President Obama, who is seeking to wrap up the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement with 11 Pacific Rim countries, and has been without trade promotion authority (TPA) for much of his administration. 
   U.S. diplomats are also negotiating the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union, as well as a trade services agreement through the World Trade Organization. TPA is considered an essential tool for convincing other nations that any agreement won’t be undermined by U.S. legislators. 
   Senate Democrats want TPA legislation, referred to as the “Hatch-Wyden-Ryan Fast Track bill” for the three lawmakers who put it together, to be part of a package of four trade bills which would offer further trade-related protections.
   “We can’t have trade promotion without trade enforcement,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and an outspoken critic of TPA, in a statement. “We cannot rush through the largest trade deal ever while leaving American workers and manufacturers behind. We must consider all four trade bills reported out of the Finance Committee as one package. This will help crack down on currency manipulation, give American industries – like the steel industry – new tools to fight back when their competitors cheat, and put an end to the import of products made with child labor.”
   “We appreciate those senators who stood with working people today against a bill that would have led to undemocratic trade deals that lower wages and eliminate jobs. This vote sends a message loud and clear,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
   “If Congress is serious about creating jobs, reviving U.S. manufacturing, and raising wages, it needs to use its leverage to reshape the terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” added Trumka. “It must remove special legal privileges for foreign investors, add enforceable rules to prevent currency manipulation, strengthen rules of origin, and redouble efforts to ensure workers everywhere – from Hannibal, Missouri, to Hanoi, Vietnam – can organize and bargain collectively.”
   Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., blamed Democrats for halting the TPA legislation.
   “The top Republican on the Finance Committee engaged in months of good-faith negotiations with the top Democrat on that committee. They consulted closely with colleagues in the House…They consulted closely with President Obama, with Democrats, and with Republicans,” he said. 
   “This doesn’t have to be the end of the story,” McConnell added. “Trade has traditionally been a bipartisan issue that cut across the partisan divide. And I suspect we have colleagues on the other side who aren’t that comfortable filibustering economic benefits for their constituents — or a president who leads their party.”