President Obama’s request for fast-track authority on trade agreements was in limbo after the House voted 302-126 against one of the elements of the package. That’s a ratio of more than 2-to-1. Opposition was even stronger – 3-to-1 – among lawmakers who also serve on the House Agriculture Committee, a group that’s aware of the importance of ag exports to farm income. The vote that stalled the fast-track package was on federal assistance to workers and industries damaged by unfair trade, not directly on fast-track auhtority, which is an agreement by Congress to vote promptly on trade agreements with no amendments.
As committee leader, Chairman Michael Conaway was the most prominent of the 33 committee members to vote against the trade-adjustment provision, while 10 members voted for it, according to the official rollcall. The 33 votes against it came from 18 Republicans and 15 Democrats, including the top-ranking Democrat, Collin Peterson of Minnesota. Seven Republicans and three Democrats voted for it.
House Republican leaders said they will try again on the trade adjustment provisions this week. Democrats voted heavily against the trade-assistance provisions, correctly viewing it as their best chance to stop the fast-track bill. The House passed, 219-211, an element of the package that assures a prompt vote on trade pacts with no amendments – the so-called fast-track language.
Said Politico, “Unless Obama and House Republicans can quickly recover from the setback, it could squelch chances of reaching any new trade agreements ‘for the rest of this administration and possibly for at least a good part of the next administration,’ said Gary Hufbauer, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.”