Bush sends Congress Colombian trade deal

President Bush sent Congress a controversial free-trade agreement with Colombia on Monday, stepping up the pressure on Democratic leaders to act against the will of many in their rank-and-file.

"Congress needs to move forward with the Colombia agreement," Bush said, "and they need to approve it as soon as possible."

In sending the trade deal to Congress against the wishes of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the Bush administration is trying to use the rules governing these agreements as a means to propel it forward despite strong misgivings by members of the majority.

Under Trade Promotion Authority, Congress must act within a specific timeframe to vote on the deal. Those rules dictatate that lawmakers have a total of 90 legislative days to approve the measure, presumably forcing Congress to act before the next election. But many Republicans aides and outside lobbyists suggest Democrats will re-write chamber rules to suspend or alter TPA.

"The need for this agreement is too urgent, the stakes for our national security are too high, to allow this year to end without a vote," Bush told reporters on Monday.

The president and other Republicans have argued the trade deal would provide a critical boost for one of the few U.S. allies in the region. Democrats, meanwhile, argue that Colombia's history of violence against labor organizers and the poor working conditions for many of the country's workers make it a bad trading partner.

The trade deal reared its head on the presidential campaign trail late last week when the Wall Street Journal reported that Mark Penn, a top strategist for Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, met with Colombian officials in his capacity as the head of public relations giant Burson-Marsteller, which had been retained to advocate on the country's behalf. Clinton opposes the free-trade agreement, and Penn quit as her top strategist on Sunday night after his firm was fired by the Colombian government earlier in the weekend.

The deal faces stiff opposition on Capitol Hill, primarily from congressional Democrats. Even some backers of the pact were pushing the administration to suspend consideration of the deal until they agreed to terms on legislation that would increase assistance for unemployed workers whose jobs left the country.

The House is the biggest hurdle, but even the Senate could prove nettlesome.

"There are enough votes to pass it in the Senate," Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told Bloomberg TV last week before calling it "a flawed agreement for our country."

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has said he will not bring the deal for a vote before his committee until the administration works with him on trade assistance for the workers whose jobs have gone overseas.

Bush on Monday said he and his administration will continue working with Baucus and others to agree to terms on Trade Adjustment Assistance legislation in order to clear the way for the Colombia deal.

CLARIFICATION: Bush signed a letter Monday sending the agreement to Congress, but the administration will not actually send the trade deal to be ratified until Tuesday because the House is out of session today.