Senate vote puts Obama’s trade agenda within reach
Chamber passage of ‘fast-track’ bill likely Wednesday
WASHINGTON — Nearly two weeks after his ambitious trade agenda was nearly derailed by fellow Democrats, President Barack Obama is poised to clinch his biggest legislative victory since the Affordable Care Act with a Senate vote Wednesday giving him the “fast-track” authority he says he needs to complete a sweeping 12-nation Pacific Rim accord.
The prolonged battle was not without political casualties, namely strained relations between the president and his own party. Many Democrats worry the Trans-Pacific Partnership and similar trade deals will sacrifice U.S. jobs to cheaper overseas competition.
But arguing that the trade deal is vital to countering China’s rise, Obama overcame opposition from big trade unions and fellow Democrats by forging a rare alliance with longtime Republican adversaries, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Sen- ate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
The political turnaround followed intense White House lobbying and a heavy dose of backroom dealmaking to secure the final votes needed.
“This has been a long and rather twisted path to where we are today, but it’s a very, very important accomplishment for the country,” McConnell said. “America is back in the trade business.”
The fast-track bill cleared its final procedural hurdle 60-37 Tuesday in the Senate — without a single vote to spare in overcoming a Democratic-led filibuster. Thirteen Democrats joined the GOP to advance the measure, and five Republicans bucked the Senate leader and voted no. Final Senate passage is expected Wednesday, sending the measure to the president’s desk.
Fast track, also known as trade promotion authority, would allow Obama to assure potential trade partners that the deals they negotiate with the U.S. will be presented to Congress for a yes-or-no vote without amendment.
Key to winning the support of the 13 Democrats were assurances from the White House and Republican leaders that the House and Senate would also vote on a related bill to provide worker retraining funds for employees who lose their jobs as a result of trade. That measure — a longtime Democratic priority that most Republicans oppose — is expected to have a vote Wednesday in the Senate and Thursday in the House.
“It’s a pretty big victory for the administration, for Obama — a victory for pragmatism,” said David Bach, senior associate dean at the Yale School of Management, who said the political cost to the president of splitting with his own party was worth the potential gains of U.S. leadership in the Pacific. “The fact that Obama was able to work with Speaker Boehner and come up with a backup plan is not the kind of thing people would have perhaps expected in this climate of ultrapartisanship. It keeps alive the potential legacy of his pivot to Asia.”
Others, though, believe the president may have damaged his ability to work with his party in his remaining 18 months in office.
“It’s a policy victory but not necessarily a political victory,” said Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University history professor. “This vote and the decision to work around House Democrats will aggravate the tensions that already exist with liberals.”
Earlier this month, in a rare rebuke of Obama by his own party, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, DCalif., led Democrats in preventing an earlier version of the package from advancing. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton also voiced concern that the proposed deal would not do enough to protect U.S. workers.
Days later, House Republicans — working with the White House — passed a new fast-track bill and sent it back to the Senate.
Democratic critics blasted Tuesday’s vote and predicted the trade deal will only benefit large corporations and result in more U.S. factory closures.
“It’s a great day for the big-money interests, not a great day for working families,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who is running against Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president.
Pressure on members of Congress has run high in recent days on both sides.
The AFL-CIO ran ads against the trade vote, warning lawmakers that American workers will suffer. That put organized labor on the same side as the conservative Heritage Action for America, which told lawmakers that they should vote no because the broader trade package is tarnished by deal-making and government pork.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and leading business interests urged senators to pass the trade legislation.