Posted on 06/18/2015 9:34:15 AM PDT by GIdget2004
The House on Thursday took the first step toward resuscitating the White House’s trade agenda by passing legislation granting President Obama fast-track authority.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where the White House and GOP leaders are seeking to strike a deal with pro-trade Democrats.
The House vote was 218-208, with 28 Democrats voting for it.
This is the second time in a week the House has voted to approve the controversial fast-track bill. On Friday, the House voted 219-211 in favor of fast-track, which would make it easier for Obama to complete a sweeping trans-Pacific trade deal.
In last week’s vote, the House GOP paired the fast-track bill with a measure known as Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) that gives aid to workers displaced by trade. Both measures needed to be approved in separate votes for the entire package to move forward.
House Democrats have historically favored TAA, but they voted against it on Friday to kill fast-track, which is deeply opposed by unions and other liberal groups.
The White House still wants both measures to reach Obama’s desk, but is now advancing a different strategy that would see the two bills move separately.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
I am so disappointed in McClintock who is my congressman too. I will be writing to him also.
I must say, you have a point. Trump, if nothing else, is a vent for the outraged, that’s for sure!
We have been represented by political players and gobbledy goop parading as genius for too long. (Paul Ryan, prime example.)
BRAVO!
We should all send that letter! Thanks for sharing a marvelous letter, well crafted and succinct! Congratulations.
A Bill that just barely gets past is a bad Bill!
“The GOP pushed this through to give Obama more Power.”
You give them too much credit!
The RINOs pushed this through to give the Dems more of our money- so the Dems will vote to give them more of our money.
It’s ‘a DC compromise’ LOL!
I think it may die in the Senate.
The oddest vote IMO is Ted Yoho’s ‘Aye’.
Maybe a constituent of his knows his thinking?
correction-that should be ‘passed’ not ‘past’.
Where are the names of those Republicans that stood up and voted AGAINST this bill....
A nice attempt at spin but nobody here is buying it. When its 190 plus 28, that speaks for itself.
It could have been 208 plus 28 = 236. TPA fails.
That was the point. No spin involved.
I am confused by the terminology in the article. Is this TPA?
Americans spoke and said “no” to TPA (and TPP).
Congress spoke and said “screw you Americans, you don’t need no stinkin jobs!”
This was the TPA. The TPA enables the TPP to proceed to negotiation, then the TPP gets voted on by Congress. But only in an up or down fashion, no amendments, and only a 51 vote threshold needed to pass in the Senate, instead of the Constitution threshold of 67 votes (2/3rds present) for a treaty to be approved.
So if the Senate approves TPA, the TPP is a go, and Congress will see it when it has been negotiated. The parts of it that are known are under seal, and members of Congress have to go to a special room, and in the presence of a proctor, are given one page at a time to read, and it is something like 600 pages so far.
And only a handful of our 535 people in Congress have even bothered to do so.
Given the lack of trust, 60 days for a foregone bill isn’t enough. Drop the secrecy from the draft process and let the truth come out as it is developed. Save the secrecy for the DoD.
In addition, nothing aside from fear says that they can’t bring the drafts out in the open. The TPA just provides the comment period for PR, not for actual objections.
As advertised, TPA means the final negotiation must be made public for 2 months before any vote. That seems ok to me, however the 51 votes vs 2/3rds is not clear to me. I was not aware of that specifically in TPA. But there are many things the Senate votes on that do not require 2/3rds majority. If the vote is on a trade agreement, I am not sure what qualifies such an agreement to be called a treaty (as in a mutual defense treaty that could have us fighting someone else’s war). I don’t trust this admin or congressional leadership one inch, but I cant see how this passing makes the situation worse than the selling out of this country that is currently taking place.
That is exactly what TPA does. It makes Congress part of the process, restricts the President in what he can do, and requires him to regularly report on the negotiations to Congress. Without TPA, the public gets No review.
Great letter, and I am shocked that Tom McClintock voted aye!
And if 246 Republicans, the largest GOP majority since 1931, had been against giving Barack Obama Fast Track Authority it wouldn’t have passed.
Them’s the facts,
Anyone who thinks Obama won’t get everything he wants is nuts.
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