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                  Senate Wrangling to Get to Final Vote on TPA

   by Cindy Saine

   Republican and Democratic supporters of President Barack Obama's Trade
   Promotion Authority are hoping to fight off hostile amendments and get
   the so-called "fast-track" trade bill passed Friday or Saturday.
   Republican Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate could
   vote on final passage as early as Friday if there is bipartisan
   cooperation. But the president's trade agenda still faces opposition
   from some members of his own Democratic Party, who are trying to block
   passage of the TPA while Senate leaders race to pass it ahead of a
   planned Memorial Day holiday recess.

   Fast track to pending trade deals?

   The fast-track negotiating authority would allow the President to
   propose trade agreements that Congress can either reject or ratify, but
   not change. President Obama has made trade authority a focal point of
   his remaining time in office, saying it is crucial to advancing the
   Trans-Pacific Partnership of nations, or TPP. The TPP would create the
   world's largest free trade zone, spanning half the globe.

   Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, a Republican,
   also gave an impassioned plea for the Senate to pass the trade
   authority bill. Corker said the bill would facilitate passage of the
   TPP, which he says would help people in his state of Tennessee and
   across the country to export more goods, and would also help people in
   the Asia-Pacific region. "But importantly, it will draw those countries
   more closely to the United States, and it will act as a buffer against
   the dominance that is taking place now with China" he said.

   China worried about exclusion

   Analysts say the Chinese government is concerned that this enormous
   "anyone but China" trade club could threaten China's economy.

   In the United States, fast-track authority and planned free trade pacts
   with Pacific Rim nations and the European Union are opposed by a number
   of Democrats and some Republicans. Opponents fear the huge free trade
   zones will benefit multinational corporations at the expense of average
   citizens, as Democratic Minority leader Harry Reid suggested. "The
   trade bill is another example of how we have ignored in this Congress
   working men and women of this country," he said.

   Labor unions and progressive groups fear the trade zones will export
   American jobs to countries with lower wages and poorer safety
   conditions for workers.

   The Trade Authority bill is expected to face an even rockier road to
   passage in the House of Representatives, where it will likely need the
   support of most of the Republican majority to pass. The House is not
   expected to act on the trade bill this month, since members have
   already left town for a holiday recess.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/senate-wrangling-to-get-to-final-vote
   -on-tpa/2785951.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/senate-wrangling-to-get-to-final-vote-on-tpa/2785951.html