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Later this afternoon, the Senate will hold a procedural vote on Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) in an attempt to reach cloture and guarantee a floor vote on fast-track authority for Barack Obama on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free-trade agreement. On its first go-around, TPA barely made it past this procedural hurdle, with only 13 Democrats coming along for the ride — and that package included Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), a key Democratic priority to buffer the effects of globalization for American workers. Without it, even those few Democrats may take a pass on TPA, which would once again put fast-track...

The President's trade agenda scored a major victory Tuesday when the Senate voted to advance a bill to allow "fast-track" approval of large international trade bills. The outcome of this key procedural vote had been in doubt as a group of 14 pro-trade Democrats weighed whether to continue their support of the bill out of concern that a related workers' assistance package might not pass both chambers. But after repeated assurances by GOP congressional leaders that workers' assistance measure will be adopted, 13 out of 14 backed the bill. The vote was 60 to 37, passing by the slimmest margin...