U.S. Senate rejects fast-track for trade bill

WASHINGTON – In a rare rebuke of a key priority of President Barack Obama's, Democrats in the U.S. Senate today rejected a measure that would have given his administration additional authority to negotiate a wide-reaching trade bill with Pacific Rim nations.

For weeks, opponents of giving the Obama administration the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) it sought to fast-track the Trans-Pacific Partnership argued that Congress should not surrender the leverage it has to insist on currency, worker and environmental protections being part of the deal.

Even so, it had been widely expected until recently that TPA would pass in the Senate. Only in the last few days did it become apparent that it was in trouble with Democrats, some of whom wanted other pieces of legislation -- including one that included currency protections sought by many -- to move along with the trade bill.

The legislation needed 60 votes to move forward, but was blocked on a 52-45 vote, though it could be reconsidered. Michigan's senators — Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, both Democrats — voted against advancing the legislation, which automakers also had raised concerns over.

"American workers can compete with anyone in the world when the playing field is level," Stabenow said. "This fast-track bill ... does not include strong language to stop currency manipulation, help for workers whose jobs have been shipped overseas, or any trade enforcement language."

The Obama administration has said the trade deal would be worth tens of billions to American incomes and more than $100 billion a year in addition exports, providing access to new markets for U.S. goods, including agricultural exports and services. Taken together, the signatory nations cover some 800 million people and account for nearly 40% of the global gross domestic product.

But Stabenow and Peters, like several others from the industrial Midwest, argued that it could potentially hurt manufacturing and that strong currency manipulation protections should have been included — though the Obama administration indicated that such provisions, written into law, could upend negotiations.

"Much more needs to be done to restore balance to our trade agreements," said Peters, saying labor and currency protections are needed. "This fast track authority package falls far short of these goals."

Domestic automakers have also insisted that Japan, one of the 12 nations in the trade deal, do more to lower trade barriers to allow for more competition from American manufacturers. The administration has insisted that it will be in a better position to negotiate better trade protections for U.S. exporters by completing the deal and that failing to do so could hurt American businesses.

Throughout the discussions over TPA — which would have allowed for a simple majority vote on the final trade deal, as well as setting up a schedule under which the administration would provide Congress with a chance to react to any negotiated deal — critics have raised concerns that it could mean job losses, as they argue the North American Free Trade Agreement did in the 1990s.

"We can't have trade promotion without trade enforcement," said U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. "Today, Senate Democrats stood united and demanded a full and thorough debate of trade policy. We cannot rush through the largest trade deal ever while leaving American workers and manufacturers behind."

If the Senate reconsiders and passes TPA, however, it still could face trouble in the House, where Democrats are urging for stronger protections and some Republicans are wary of providing more authority to the Democratic president's administration.

Contact Todd Spangler at 703-854-8947 or at tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @tsspangler.