Obama Fails Again to Ram His TPP Fast-Track Package Through Congress

Having spent the entire weekend twisting arms, making phone calls, and “strategizing” to no avail, the Obama White House had to back off from their plan to hold a re-vote today on the trade-adjustment assistance bill (TAA), the prelude to fast track authorization for the noxious TPP. The best the flailing Obama administration could muster was a House vote of 236-189 Tuesday to go along with a plan to extend until July 30 the deadline for attempting to pass Obama’s bill somewhere down the line.

But don’t expect Obama and the British to let this go quietly. Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas said the delay would allow House Speaker John Boehner to bring up the issue for a vote at any time in the next six weeks, with no notice. He said Republicans are looking for the ideal time to muscle through a broken trade policy.

Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro, one of the leading opponents of Obama’s trade plans, was quoted by McClatchy News saying:

“This is one more attempt to play games with the future of hard-working families.”

The ins and outs of the parliamentary shenanigans, backed by backroom and under-the-table arrangements, have to overcome a 76 vote margin for the House to pass the trade-adjustment assistance measure, which is billed as support for people who lose their jobs because of the “trade” bills themselves. After the assistance measure was defeated by a combination of Democrats (who might otherwise support the measure) and Republicans, Boehner went ahead with a vote on fast-track itself, which passed 219-211. But the Senate version of the bill includes the TAA, and the votes don’t exist in the Senate to pass fast-track without the TAA.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy was quoted yesterday by the Washington Post saying:

“I think the longer something like this sits out there, the harder it is to bring it back. I think before the summer’s out, you’ve got to have it done. And I think each week that it goes on may make it a little more difficult.”

In an op-ed in today’s USA Today, Rep. Nancy Pelosi wrote that the era of fast-tracking trade deals is probably coming to a close:

“The benefits of globalization have overwhelmingly flowed to the most affluent and powerful, while the costs have been shouldered by ordinary citizens in both developed and developing nations. I suggest a new global engagement on trade — an engagement that enables voices from all aspects of the world’s economies to be heard.”

She suggested going through the United Nations or “in a new conclave created to give voice to representatives of public, private and non-profit organizations.”