Ryan plans to fix Obama’s trafficking dilemma
Idea is to split trade bill from anti-slavery issue
CQ-Roll Call
— Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan has a solution to President Barack Obama’s human trafficking problem.
The problem is that an anti-slavery provision added to the Senate-passed trade package would undermine one of Obama’s top priorities — the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
It would effectively bar Malaysia, which has a record as a human trafficking hub, from joining the free trade deal, and Malaysia is a key to the Obama administration’s broader efforts in Asia to counter China.
So Ryan, the House Ways and Means Committee chairman, has a solution: Pass the Senate trade package as is, but amend the anti-slavery provision to a palatable form in a separate customs bill.
The Senate’s trade bill “will move in the House as passed by the Senate,” said an aide to the Ways and
Washington Means Committee. “Our customs bill, which is already different than the Senate bill, will be modified. . . . And then we’ll go to conference on customs after we pass our bill. The goal is to avoid a conference” on the broader trade package.
The logic of the Ryan plan is simple: The vote on the socalled fast-track Trade Promotion Authority bill will be tough enough as is; nobody wants to have to vote on it twice.
The Huffington Post on May 22 was the first to report the issue of the slavery language. In a subsequent article, The Huffington Post pointed out the importance of Malaysia to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The Trade Promotion Authority bill’s existing antislavery language prohibits the expedited consideration of trade deals with countries, like Malaysia, that rank high in human trafficking by the State Department and requires those countries to implement certain recommendations.
A White House-backed compromise, initially crafted by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Ron Wyden (DOre.), allows for a narrow and strict exception, but that never made it into the bill.
The White House would not say last week whether Obama would sign the fast-track bill as is, but a senior administration official did say in a statement that the White House supported Ryan’s plan and the compromise amendment.
“We welcome the language in the amendment put forth by Senators Menendez and Wyden on trafficking,” the official said. “Their approach will further encourage countries to take concrete actions to end human trafficking, and we’re pleased to see that Chairman Ryan has agreed to take up their language in the House.”
On May 22, the day the Senate voted on final passage of legislation, Ryan wrote a letter to the Senate’s bill managers, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Wyden, stating his intention to add four amendments to the customs bill that included the compromise amendment.
Ryan also said he would propose an amendment barring any trade deal from amending U.S. immigration laws, a nod to House tea party members who are distrustful of Obama, and another that strengthened enforcement against foreign producers using “unfair” trade practices, which helped bring along Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and the House Congressional Steel Caucus.
But the Ryan plan is not without its perils. For all of the votes that these amendments could attract, his decision to omit currency enforcement language could cost Democratic support.
Wyden, Hatch and Ryan have pledged to coordinate with leadership in both chambers to clear a customs package in June.
Of course, there always is the possibility that customs doesn’t reach Obama’s desk and the Trade Promotion Authority bill does, which would present the president with a dilemma.
There also is the possibility that the House ends up amending the Trade Promotion Authority bill if they need to do so to get the votes, which means it would come back to the Senate. After surviving a Democratic filibuster, a Rand Paul filibustertype speech, a drama over the Export-Import Bank and a two-vote margin of error on cloture, there are no guarantees that an amended Trade Promotion Authority bill would make it through another senatorial firefight.