WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate paved the way for a final vote today on legislation that would give President Barack Obama enhanced authority to complete free-trade deals.
The 60-37 vote Tuesday to advance the measure came after a series of setbacks including a move two weeks ago by House Democrats to halt the measure. Because the House has voted for the bill, it would go directly to the president for his signature upon Senate passage.
"Now it's time for the next step," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the floor before the vote. "Today is a very big vote; it's an important moment for the country."
The legislation, known as fast-track or trade-promotion authority, would let Obama submit agreements to Congress for an expedited, up-or-down vote without amendments. His administration hopes to use the authority to complete a 12-country trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership this year.
After the final vote on fast-track authority, the Senate plans to consider another piece of legislation to extend a program aiding workers who lose their jobs because of trade agreements.
The program is supported mostly by Democrats, some of whom made getting a vote on it a condition of their support for the fast-track measure. Republican House and Senate leaders said their goal is to pass the aid bill this week. The fast-track bill would go to Obama's desk upon its passage.
McConnell said final action on Trade Adjustment Assistance, as the worker-aid program is known, would likely come Thursday. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said his chamber will vote on the measure after that.
Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the top Republican on trade issues in the Senate and a longtime critic of the worker-aid bill, said that to gain passage of the measure, "I'll vote for it myself if I have to."
White House spokesman Josh Earnest pleaded with Democrats to continue their longtime support for the program. Opposing it now "would be akin to cutting off your nose to spite your face," he said.
"Right now we believe there is a clear path for both TPA and TAA to come to the president's desk," Earnest said.
The worker-assistance measure is being added to separate legislation that promotes trade with poorer countries. McConnell also added a provision to benefit the steel industry in an effort to solidify bipartisan support.
The big majority of Democrats, especially in the House, oppose free-trade agreements, as do the labor unions that play important roles in Democratic primaries. They say free-trade agreements ship U.S. jobs overseas.
Thirteen Democrats voted with 47 Republicans to advance fast track in the Senate on Tuesday. Five Republicans -- including presidential candidates Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky -- voted with 32 Democrats not to move the bill forward.
Hatch complimented Obama for staying engaged to secure Democratic backing until just before the vote.
"In this case, he really did work it hard," Hatch said. "Without him, I'm not sure we would have gotten this result."
Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., who opposed advancing the measure Tuesday after voting for passage last month, said he changed his vote because the worker-training assistance is now a separate measure and there was no guarantee that would pass.
"It may work; it may not work," Cardin said, adding that he hadn't determined how he would vote on final passage of the fast-track measure.
McConnell said the process he set up will put several trade bills on the president's desk before Congress adjourns for a week-long July 4 recess. He said Tuesday that the Senate will have a final vote on the fast-track bill today.
A national business coalition has lobbied hard for the fast-track bill, and the White House took up the fight last year in an unusual alliance with Republican congressional leaders. Many Democrats, who blame the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement for the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs, are opposing Obama.
"It's clear that our trade policy creates winners and losers," said Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who has led opposition to trade-negotiating authority. "Trade agreements do not create winners everywhere. People in my state are losing jobs from these trade agreements."
Obama, major corporate groups, GOP leaders and others have countered such arguments by saying U.S. products must reach more global markets. They say anti-trade forces have exaggerated the harm done by NAFTA.
Cruz voted against the bill Tuesday after previously supporting it. In an opinion column published by breitbart.com, he said that while free trade is good for the U.S., the fast-track bill is part of a "corrupt" deal among Republicans, Democrats and the White House involving efforts to extend the Export-Import Bank.
"When people run for president, you can expect some very bizarre things," Hatch said in response.
The AFL-CIO, which opposes fast-track authority, made a last-ditch bid to stop the measure with ads on the 100 most-trafficked websites in the Washington area, said Carolyn Bobb, a spokesman for the group. The ads say the measure would allow harm to the environment and wouldn't help workers who lose their jobs because of trade agreements.
But many corporate, agricultural and manufacturing groups cheered.
The Senate vote "is an important step towards revitalizing our economy, creating more good American jobs, and reasserting our country's global economic leadership," said U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue.
Business Roundtable President John Engler said in a statement after the vote, "This bill will help ensure U.S. negotiators bring back the strongest possible trade agreements for American business and workers."
Information for this article was contributed by Carter Dougherty and Kathleen Hunter of Bloomberg News and by Charles Babington, David Espo, Erica Werner, Jim Kuhnhenn and Paul Wiseman of The Associated Press.
A Section on 06/24/2015