Despite hurdles, trade bill passes in Senate panel

‘Fast track’ powers at issue

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah gives an opening remark on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 21, 2015, before the committee's hearing on fast track authority. Major labor unions and business groups clashed Tuesday over President Barack Obama's bid for "fast track" authority to advance trade deals being negotiated with numerous nations.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah gives an opening remark on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 21, 2015, before the committee's hearing on fast track authority. Major labor unions and business groups clashed Tuesday over President Barack Obama's bid for "fast track" authority to advance trade deals being negotiated with numerous nations.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's trade agenda passed an initial Senate test late Wednesday, but many fellow Democrats hope to trip him in the House.

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AP

In this March 10, 2015 file photo, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. speaks at the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) Legislative Conference and Presidential Forum in Washington.

The Senate Finance Committee endorsed Obama's request for "fast track" legislation, which would renew presidential authority to present trade deals that Congress can endorse or reject but not amend.

Emotional disagreements broke out earlier Wednesday when a liberal senator delayed the bill.

The day began with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, predicting a "strong bipartisan vote" for the fast track legislation. But liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a fierce opponent of the trade legislation, invoked a Senate scheduling rule to delay the committee's actions for hours.

"This job-killing trade deal has been negotiated in secret," said Sanders, who made a lengthy Senate speech denouncing the legislation. "It was drafted with input by special interests and corporate lobbyists, but not from the elected representatives of the American people."

Hatch rejected the claims, saying fast-track and other trade proposals have been carefully negotiated and will undergo long public scrutiny.

"We need to be doing all we can to tear down barriers to American exports while, at the same time, creating enforceable rules for our trading partners so we can be sure that American workers and job creators are competing on a level playing field," Hatch said.

The Hatch-Sanders dispute is one of many emerging as Congress turns to trade proposals opposed by labor unions and others who say such pacts hurt U.S. jobs.

Obama said his Democratic opponents have their facts wrong. He wants fast-track powers to help push free-trade proposals such as the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership.

"I would not be doing this trade deal if I did not think it was good for the middle class," Obama said in an interview Tuesday with MSNBC. "When you hear folks make a lot of suggestions about how bad this trade deal is, when you dig into the facts, they are wrong."

The president said the trade deal would give U.S. companies access to foreign markets and would demand high labor, environmental and human-rights protections.

Several top Democrats aren't backing down, however. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada told reporters, "I'm not only no, I'm hell no" on Obama's bid for fast-track authority.

Senate Finance Committee member Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the administration must press China to stop manipulating its currency, even though China isn't a party to the Pacific-rim negotiations.

If a nation keeps its currency value artificially low, it can boost exports by making local products more affordable to foreigners. Economists disagree on whether China still engages in the practice, and the Obama administration says it addresses currency manipulation in the fast-track bill.

The Finance Committee on Wednesday narrowly defeated a currency-manipulation measure that Obama aides said would unravel the Pacific Rim deal. Votes for and against the provision were about evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.

The committee later voted 20-6 to pass the fast-track bill. The only committee Republican voting no was Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina. Committee passage moves the bill to the full Senate.

Republicans generally support trade pacts. But Obama can't count on them alone to push the fiercely debated trade bills through the GOP-controlled House and Senate.

In the House, the Ways and Means Committee was scheduled to debate the fast-track legislation today.

The panel's top Democrat, Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan, is offering an alternative bill that would make greater demands on trading partners on issues including workers' conditions and currency policies.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi endorsed Levin's bill.

A Section on 04/23/2015

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