Free trade is A Good Thing.
Sure, some people get screwed, but that's how the free market works. But on balance, the country is much better off than it would have been if it had chosen to cripple itself to protect those who made wrong choices.
Despite this obvious fact, five Republicans voted no: Susan Collins, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Jeff Sessions, and Richard Shelby. One Republican didn't vote: Mike Enzi.
Admittedly, voting to trust Zero to do something right is a risk. But it's justifiable in this case. The senators who voted yea voted correctly.
The rules are, after the agreement is reached, it must be published in full for 60 days, after which Congress, presumably having had an ear full, votes it up or down.
The bill imposes a list of requirements on Obama regarding the agreement. Hopefully, he'll adhere to them and thereby add a Free Trade Bill to his legacy. If not, then Congress should simply can the final agreement.
Again, each time we pass a free trade agreement, our trade deficit with those countries soars.
In what bizarro world do you think "Free Trade" even exists?
There NO SUCH THING AS FREE TRADE!!!
All the nations of the world, except the USA, are essentially mercantilists and they will put barriers in place against American good, whether via tariff or currency manipulation or myriad other means.
Even were the field completely level, the USA cannot compete with slave labor and cesspool environmentalism in China without bringing those "features" to USA.
Nay! "Free Trade" is a ruse to line up the vulture to feed on America's Capital Stock and create a nation of dependent serfs.