Senate Democrats block Obama on free-trade initiative

WASHINGTON DC, USA – In a setback for President Barack Obama, US Senate Democrats on Tuesday, May 12, blocked the advance of a measure giving him authority to swiftly finalize a massive Pacific Rim trade deal.

Republicans backed Obama’s bid for the trade authority, but many Democrats felt betrayed by the measure’s failure to include protections for American workers and punish currency manipulation.

The bill would have allowed Obama to submit the Trans-Pacific Partnership and an upcoming US-Europe trade pact to Congress for an up-or-down vote, with lawmakers prevented from making changes.

The White House says it needs such fast-track authority in order to finalize talks with the 11 other nations in the TPP, without the threat of Congress changing the pact once negotiations are over.

Democrats withdrew their support after Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to package the fast-track measure with three other trade bills, including one that cracks down on currency manipulation – seen by many as an impediment to fair trade.

“We know the global economy is a rough sea, and Republicans are asking us to pass a trade package that forces the American worker to navigate those waters in a leaky boat,” Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said.

All Democrats but one, Senator Tom Carper, voted against formally opening debate on the measure, a procedure that needed 60 votes in the 100-member chamber but failed 52-45.

Collapse of support

“What the Democrats are doing today… is throwing their own president under the bus,” Senate Republican John Thune said.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Orrin Hatch, who co-authored the package of trade bills expressed astonishment at the collapse of what he described as an agreement to support both executive trade authority and trade adjustment to fund worker assistance programs.

“It’s amazing to me that they would do this to the president, on a bill of this magnitude,” Hatch fumed.

“It is the most important bill the president will have had in his presidency.”

Tuesday’s vote did not kill the trade authority bill, just delayed it. McConnell said he intends to bring the bill up again, perhaps after Republicans and Democrats come to an agreement on how to proceed with the four trade measures.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he hoped senators would be able to “work through” a procedural hang-up.

But Hatch voiced dismay, saying “I don’t know where we’re going to go.”

Trade authority supporters say the legislation would require 150 congressional negotiating priorities be met in the trade pact, including provisions on human rights and the environment.

But critics say the trade pact, under negotiation in secrecy, is a job killer that prioritizes corporate interests over those of American workers.

“We want more trade, we just want it under very different definitions and very different rules,” said Senate Democrat Sherrod Brown, who is helping lead opposition to bill and the Pacific trade deal.

Critics argue that uniting 12 nations in a free-trade zone would prompt a race to the bottom on wages, with the US workforce unable to compete with cheap labor in pact partners like Vietnam, Malaysia, Peru and Chile.

“Trust us to know what’s good for workers. This ain’t it,” said Richard Trumka, president of AFL-CIO, America’s largest labor organization representing 12 million workers. – Michael Mathes, AFP / Rappler.com