(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

Last Friday, House Democrats wrenched President Obama's trade agenda to an unexpected, though perhaps temporary, halt . Obama had asked Congress to pass a bill that would grant him so-called "Trade Promotion Authority" (TPA), better known as "fast-track." This legislation would allow the president to conclude a controversial trade agreement with 11 Pacific Rim nations without giving Congress the chance to amend it; only an up-or-down vote would be permitted on the deal, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Many Democrats, supported by organized labor and progressive activists, are hostile to the TPP (the trade accord), and therefore are hostile to TPA (fast-track). Some Republicans are opposed as well, enough to require John Boehner to cobble together a bipartisan coalition to bring TPA to fruition. So in an attempt to win over votes from unhappy Democrats, the House required that TPA (which is favored by most Republicans) pass in concert with another piece of legislation called Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA).

TAA helps retrain workers, so Democrats typically like it while Republicans deride it as welfare. But smart progressives knew that tanking TAA would also stop TPA, at least for the moment, so Democrats voted against TAA en masse. GOP leadership then staged a show vote on TPA, but even though it carried a majority, it didn't pass because of the pre-arranged requirement that both laws stand or fall together.

The map above shows how Democrats cast their votes on both roll calls. Districts highlighted in yellow show Democrats who voted for both TAA and TPA, which is the position Obama lobbied for; still, only 27 members of his party stuck with him. Green shows those who voted for TAA but not TPA, the classic liberal position. Obama actually encouraged this stance, because he knew Republicans would provide enough votes to get TPA through as long as TAA passed, and he figured (or hoped) Democrats would be willing to take the good (TAA) with the bad (TPP). But TAA was a small sop at best, and only 13 Democrats were willing to play along.

Pink shows the typical Republican position, a vote for TPA but against the TAA "give-away." (Just one Democrat landed in this box, the baffling Rubén Hinojosa.) Finally, blue shows the strategic progressive position of voting against both TAA and TPA, which most House Democrats adopted (143 in total). (Click here to match names to districts.)

Have a peek below the fold and you'll see how the Republicans voted.