Obama Fails to Pass Trade Bill Backed By Majorities in Both Houses

Townhall.com ^ | June 16, 2015 | Michael Barone

[Kaslin]

Lyndon Johnson used to say that some of his colleagues were so politically inept they couldn't find their posteriors -- actually, he used a coarser word -- with both hands. Last week Barack Obama showed that, as a legislative strategist, he belongs in that category.

It's a given that he can't achieve most of his legislative goals with Republican majorities in both houses of Congress. But on trade promotion authority -- legislation to require up-or-down approval without amendments of trade agreements -- he has fumbled even though, as demonstrated on roll calls, his position is supported by a supermajority in the Senate and a majority in the House.

TPA is necessary for successful completion of Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations now skillfully conducted by U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. Other nations won't reach agreement if Congress can pass amendments requiring further concessions.

Obama has made forthright statements in support of TPA. But he failed to rally his fellow Democrats in the House to stop them from trying to kill it.

One curious thing about trade issues is that historically, from the time of Andrew Jackson to John Kennedy, the Democrats were the free trade party. The Republicans from their beginnings to the 1960s were more protectionist.

Free trade legislation was Kennedy's No. 1 domestic priority in his first two years as president. It was passed with the support of most Democrats over the opposition of most Republicans. Disabling amendments were offered by Sen. Prescott Bush of Connecticut.

But starting in the 1970s, labor unions, hoping to prevent auto and steel job losses, have pushed for more trade protections. They continue to oppose freer trade even though half of union members today are public employees.

When Bill Clinton sought approval of the NAFTA agreement with Mexico in 1993, the party balance had shifted. The Senate approved it 61-38, with Democrats evenly split. In the Democratic-majority House, it won 234-200, with yea votes from 102 Democrats and 132 Republicans.

Democratic support for free trade continued to slide. In 2003, when the House approved TPA 217-212, only 25 Democrats voted for it, while 27 Republicans voted against it.

It should have been obvious to Obama, months before Friday's TPA vote, that he needed to get some significant number of Democratic votes to get the measure through the House. Too many recently elected Republicans had either taken protectionist stands or didn't trust the president to carry on negotiations.

Even more important, he needed to persuade House Democratic leaders not to sabotage his effort. He needed to spend time with them, listen to their concerns and foster a team spirit. But Obama, by all accounts, has had as little time for congressional Democrats as he has had for congressional Republicans. Lyndon Johnson-style schmoozing is not his thing.

The result was apparent Friday. In May, the Senate voted 62-37 for a TPA-TAA package. TAA is Trade Adjustment Assistance, a program intended to aid workers displaced by foreign imports. Policy analysts say it's not very effective, but pro-TPA Democrats can cite it in defense against attacks from unions and primary opponents.

Friday the House took up TAA before TPA -- and voted TAA down 302-126. It was supported by 86 Republicans (many of whom dislike it) and only 38 Democrats (almost all of whom support it). House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi led the charge against the president's policy.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy didn't flinch but immediately called for a vote on TPA. It passed by a 219-211 margin, with 28 Democratic votes -- a margin eerily similar to the TPA vote 13 years ago.

But since the Senate bill tied TPA and TAA together, there is no bill for the president to sign. Senate Finance Democrat Ron Wyden, a key TPA supporter, has made it plain the Senate will not pass TPA as stand-alone legislation.

TPA is not necessarily dead. Speaker John Boehner has held open the possibility of a vote to reconsider the TAA portion of the Senate bill in the coming week. Probably some significant number of Republicans who back TPA but voted against TAA can be persuaded to switch their votes.

But that's not likely to be enough to reverse an overwhelming margin without a change of course by House Democrats. Which puts the ball squarely in Obama's court. One's ears burn as one thinks of what Lyndon Johnson would say of his predicament.

[Lazamataz]

But on trade promotion authority -- legislation to require up-or-down approval without amendments of trade agreements -- he has fumbled even though, as demonstrated on roll calls, his position is supported by a supermajority in the Senate and a majority in the House.

How messed up is that?

[Wolfie]

I think when people look at how each “free trade” agreement costs us jobs and increases the trade deficit, they wise up a little. But just a little.

[1rudeboy]

Thank you, Dick Gephardt. Where have ya’ been?

[elpadre]

The Trade Bill may be OK, but not in the hands of this POTUS - that’s the real problem.

[Mouton]

Do a graph. On the Y axis call it our foreign trade balance and note amounts. Now, on the X asis, at the intersection of the x and y begin at 1960 and go out to 2015. Note also dates for every “agreement”. How do you think the line will read: A: / B:\ C:-. B is the correct answer. In fact it will go into the SE quadrant as our current balance is almost near the floor of the room.

So, Mr. Bohner and Mr. Ogungle, tell me again how these have been great “deals” for the US.

[Liz]

QUICK, GIMME A BARF BAG Obama calls TPP "central"
to his second-term legacy, as well as to his (gag) foreign
policy and economic agendas.

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Very Interesting: few, if any, of the RCEP and TPP countries contributed to the buck-raking Clinton Foundation.

Looks like the Clintons and Obama divvied up the globe so that each have their own countries in order to collect big buck get-rich-quick foundation donations, honorarium, cosultancies, and int'l insider business deals.

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THE FACTS ARE THESE Obama's trade deal giveaway is a huge scam...best examined against the backdrop of Obama's two tax-exempt foundations (two-that we know of).

Obama's priming the pump for donations to his two Foundations. All of it---TPA and TPP--Obama's immigration suck-ups---his non- action WRT ISIS, IRAN---are best understood against the backdrop of Obama's future plans as an ex-president----more specifically, his two get-rich-quick Foundations (two foundations that we know of).

The aforementioned entities control billions of dollars---and Obama is lying-in-wait for his share.

===================================================

WIKI REFERENCE: Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) and the six states with which ASEAN has existing FTAs (Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand). RCEP negotiations were formally launched in November 2012 at the ASEAN Summit in Cambodia.

[Liz]

GAG-A-RAMA Just the other day--Obama proudly bragged that “today, once again, the US is the most respected country on earth.”

So it doesn’t matter Putin continues his invasion of Ukraine....

Or that China knows it can continue grabbing key sea areas, building vast artificial islands on which to plant its flag (and weapons). Or that Bashar al-Assad is back to using chemical weapons, because Obama won't enforce his own “red line.”

As for Iran: It’s already breaking the “interim” US nuclear deal by building enriched-uranium stockpiles far larger than it promised. Iraq? In the same town-hall, Obama talks of how “we were able to end two wars."

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Obama learned from the Clintons how to get a big payday for his two foundations: look on w/ approval even if countries invade and depopulate.....and never e-v-e-r utter a discouraging word e-v-e-r.

Maybe even shake hands w/ foreign tyrants to get mining permits and million dollar honorariums as Clinton did in Kazakhstan.

======================================

How well Obama learned at the knee of Hillary when she was Obama's Secy of State. At that time the "State Dept Mission Statement" mentioned that it would "create a more secure, democratic, and prosperous world for the benefit of the American people and the international community."

(Well, profitable for the Clinton Foundation, anyway.)

Now it looks like that "prosperous world" is gonna happen, thanks to Obama's two foundations (/snix).

[Liz]

THE OBAMAS GET READY FOR THE BIG FOUNDATION PAYDAY Obama isnt even out of office yet---and already has two get-rich-quick foundations (two that we know of).

(1) "The Obama Foundation" announced the location of its library in Chicago.....revving up the next ex-president's money machine.

(2) The second Obama foundation----The Barack H. Obama Foundation (BHOF)---(named after their dad), was fast-tracked by Lois Lerner for IRS tax-exempt status....for Malik Obama, Barack's half brother.

The BHOF is based at a Virginia UPS store, according to its website. The organization’s IRS filings list another Virginia address that is actually a drug rehab center where the foundation does not appear ever to have been based.

As first reported by The Daily Caller, the foundation was speedily approved for IRS exemption by Lois Lerner, the self-same IRS senior official at the center of the targeting of conservative organizations that have waited over two years to receive tax exempt status. The IRS thoughtfully gave Obama Foundation retroactive fund-raising status.......which it stupidly never applied for.

The tax-exempt Barack H. Obama Foundation is run by Abon’go “Roy” Malik Obama, the half-brother of Barack Obama.

The foundation’s mission statement is “to provide people everywhere with resources to uplift their welfare and living standards in memory of dad---Barack H. Obama: in the region of his birth, Kenya, and beyond.” Its guiding principle is “the inherent belief that no one can truly enjoy the riches he has reaped if his neighbor suffers....."We seek to elevate the human condition so that everyone can live in dignity and truly enjoy having one another as neighbors.”

(waiting for hysterical laughter to die down)

Despite raising more than $250,000, the alleged charity doesn’t seem to have done much. Its website claims the organization has built a madrassa and was building an imam’s house as well as some “proposed latrines,” but there is no other evidence that the nonprofit was working to “mitigate social-shortcomings in areas of education and literacy, health and well-being, poverty, and lack of community infrastructure in such basic needs such as water, electricity, shelter and sustenance,” as the site says.

Alton Ray Baysden, a former Dept of State employee, allegedly a registered Republican, who helped start the Barack H Obama foundation, declined to comment before seeing copies of a reporter’s passport and govt ID, along with a description of the article’s “motivation” and “slant.”

Repeated reporters' phone calls went to the organization’s voicemail and were not returned.

Malik spends most of his time in Kenya with his 12 wives while Obama finances his half brother, Malik, a major fundraiser for the Muslim Bortherhood.

MORE HERE http://shoebat.com/shoebat-foundation/obamas-wahhabist-fundraising-empire

Kenya-resident, Malik Obama in Muslim dress, holds up
photo of his half brother Obama in Muslim dress, taken
during an earlier visit.

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GOVERTNMENT FRAUD AT ITS FINEST--deposited in numbered accounts in offshore banks?

Obama's federal outlays (that we know of).:

<><> $2 billion funding to Malik's organization---the Muslim Brotherhood,

<><> $50 million to Malik/Barack's tax-exempt foundation in the form of a grant to Kenya.

<><> While the Muslim Brotherhood was in charge in Egypt, Obama (and Hillary) showered them w/ praise.....and billions of US dollars in aid, arms, tanks and planes.

<><> Obama gave $90 million US tax dollars to wealthy oil-rich African countries.

<><>The missing billions underhandedly added on to the Obamacare boondoggle.

[Buckeye McFrog]

yeah, well, math never was his strong suit

[freedomfiter2]

The real problem is TPA lowers the number of votes required for passage to 51. No matter how bad TPP is, it can’t be stopped. That’s why TPA shouldn’t be passed. If the pro TPP crowd were sure it was going to be good for America they wouldn’t resort to such maneuvers. The fact that no one will address this is proof that it is going to be another loser for America and that they don’t care as long as they get their payoff. Once upon a time we knew how to deal with traitors.

[elpadre]

yes, I can agree with what you say. But Congress must do everything possible to stifle the power Obama is wielding. I don’t trust him in any way.

[grania]

The real problem is TPA lowers the number of votes required for passage to 51.

Those who support it must assume that 51 US Senators can't be bought off.

[fortheDeclaration]

Exactly!