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Title: Obama suffers big loss as trade bill is defeated at hands of Democrats (TAA/TPA defeated in the House)
Source:
Los Angeles Times
URL Source: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na ... fast-track-20150612-story.html
Published: Jun 12, 2015
Author: Lisa Mascaro and Don Lee
Post Date: 2015-06-12 14:58:25 by Hondo68
Keywords: None
Views: 3649
Comments: 19
President Obama’s trade agenda unraveled Friday in a stunning setback delivered by his own party as the House rejected an important part of a package aimed at fast-tracking a controversial trade pact he is pursing with 11 other Pacific Rim nations. Hoping to salvage a key piece of his legacy, Obama dashed to Capitol Hill for a rare early-morning meeting with Democrats. But even his high-profile personal intervention failed to generate the Democratic votes he needed to supplement support he received in an unusual alliance with pro-trade Republicans. The House voted Friday on two measures, both of which had to pass in order to send the legislation -- which was already approved by the Senate -- to the president. A bill to give the president fast-track authority to negotiate future trade deals was approved by a 219-211 vote. But another measure regarding funds to retrain workers failed, 126 to 302. Because the Senate had approved both measures, the failure of the retraining program prevented the package from advancing. Obama personally pressed Democrats to support the measure in a meeting Friday morning on Capitol Hill and an unscheduled appearance Thursday night at the annual congressional ballgame at the Nationals ballpark. “Play it straight,” Obama told the House Democrats on Friday, urging them in a 20-minute private talk not to employ a tactical move to defeat the package. But his message may have only further divided the party and pushed liberal Democrats to dig in to stop the entire trade deal. “Basically, the president tried to both guilt people and impugn their integrity,” said Rep. Pete DeFazio (D-Ore.). “There were a number of us who were insulted by the approach.” “The shift from the White House and the president was not fast enough,” said Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who supports the bills. “I wish there would have been much better outreach.” The measure would give the Obama administration the ability to wrap up negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade deal years in the making, and present a final agreement to Congress for expedited consideration and an up-or-down vote with no amendments. The Trans-Pacific Partnership would be one of the world's largest and most ambitious trade efforts ever, aimed at removing barriers and establishing rules on investment and commerce affecting 40% of the global economy. The proposed pact contains multiple sections that include provisions on labor, intellectual property, cross-border data flows and state-owned enterprises. Obama’s trade agenda places him in an unusual alliance with congressional Republicans, who are traditionally pro-free trade. But some GOP conservatives also opposed the fast-track measure because they were loathe to boost the president’s authority or help him win a legislative trophy. “I understand a lot of our members don’t trust the president. Neither do I. That’s precisely why I support this bill,” said Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), a chief negotiator, said Friday in the House. “TPA puts Congress in the driver’s seat.” Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, faced the uncomfortable choice of voting against their president or for a bill that at most has tepid support from ordinary constituents and is fiercely opposed by various consumer groups and organized labor. Union leaders, fearing a trade deal will send more American jobs overseas, have threatened to cut off election campaign help for lawmakers who support the measure. In the end, congressional Republicans and the White House failed to overcome an unexpected, last-minute obstacle involving worker retraining funds. Fast-track authority passed 62-37 in the Senate last month after GOP leaders won over some Democrats by coupling it with a measure to extend funding for retraining American workers hurt by foreign competition, a program known as Trade Adjustment Assistance. But in the House, Democrats balked at a plan to pay for worker training with what they viewed as cuts from Medicare. After negotiations this week between Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), House GOP leaders responded by splitting the measure into two bills, one for fast-track and another for the retraining funds. They also agreed to find an alternative funding source for the retraining program. Republicans largely oppose spending money on the worker retraining program, viewing it as wasteful, putting pressure on Democrats to pass that portion of the package. White House officials told Democrats privately that the Trade Adjustment Assistance package was the best offer they would get. “The Republican Congress will not give us another chance to reauthorize TAA if we don’t do it,” White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told them earlier this week, according to a Democratic source in a private caucus meeting. House Democrats, unconvinced the new retraining funds would be agreed to by the Senate, seized on the tactical opening to defeat the entire package by rallying votes against the training program. Poster Comment: The Democrats have revolted and thrown Obama under the bus. But, the Pubies continue to worship globalism and the Magic Kenyan? 
President Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi exit a meeting with House Democrats at the U.S. Capitol on June 12, 2015.(Photo: Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images) 
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 11.
#1. To: hondo68 (#0)
For these kinds of so called free trade bills the breakdown is usually most Republican legislators support it and most Democrat legislatures oppose it.
Can you explain these to me? FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 363 FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 362 FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 361
Republican 86 158 2 As I understand it, this vote on "except section 212" is what broke the trade deal, since it differs from what the Senate had passed. Actually more Republicans voted against it than Democrats. 158 vs 144. The LA Times headline is erroneous, essentially a lie.
Yup. Boehner and Ryan failed bigger than Pelosi did. But the conservative media wants to spin this as Pelosi's and Obola's failure.
My fave take on this is how the GOP is trying to hide the fact it is the pro free trade party from its angry anti-free trade base.
I wouldn't agree. GOP voters know the GOP is the free trade party and it has been for a long long time. I think Ace has something in his rant today: Apparently, for TPA (the fast track authority) to pass, it was necessary that the TAA pass alongside it, and the latter failed, so they're in limbo. Some people whom I respect are arguing in favor of TPP (TPA is the legislation that puts it TPP fast track), and dispelling the myths about TPP spread on the internet. (Post in progress; just wanted to get this up while I write the rest of it.) Ted Cruz, for example, shocked his populist base and came out in support of TPA, noting that some things you read on the internet. Friend of the podcast Scott Lincicome dispelled some myths about the plan. Here's what neither gentleman understands: We don't trust the GOP any longer. Paul Ryan argues that there's no sense blocking the fast track authority because Congress will always get an up-or-down vote on the actual trade deal, whenever Obama deigns to share it with us. He doesn't understand: We no longer trust the GOP. Yes, Mr. Ryan, the GOP will have another chance to weigh in on the TPP in its final form But we don't trust you to do the right thing then, just as we don't trust you to do the right thing now. The GOP lies to us at every turn. They claim they're going to stop Obamacare, then they begin drawing up plans to affirmatively save the plan with subsidies should the Supreme Court strike it down. They claim they will fight Obama like hungry dogs on immigration, then they approve it. They claim they're against Obama's Iran deal-- then they pass a mechanism which allows the Iran deal to pass with just one third of the Senate, so that GOP Senators can vote "against" the bill while ultimately losing the vote -- thus being able to claim to their constituents "Well we tried, but goshdarnit, the other side just outvoted us with its one-third majority." The GOP continues attempting to trick its base -- which it believes is, as the Washington Post said so long ago, is "poor, uneducated, and easily led'' -- with Failure Theater. We don't trust you assholes. Period. So yes, I concede: Voting in favor of TPA does not mean that TPP will pass automatically. But I assume that TPP will pass automatically, when it comes up for a vote, because you've promised it to the Donor Class, and they're the only people who matter in the GOP. The GOP Establishment made two promises on immigration, one to the Donor Class, and one to the gullible unfortunates it tricked into voting for them. To the Donor Class, it promised they would leave Obama's amnesty undisturbed. To the poor, uneducated, and easily led dupes of the voting base, they promised they'd fight the amnesty with all they had. They told the truth to the Donor Class. They lied to us. The GOP Establishment promised the Donor Class it would make no waves on Obamacare. The GOP Establishment promised its stupid, backwards, dirt-poor racist base that it would destroy Obamacare, once and for all. They told the truth to the Donor Class. They lied to everyone else. Now you've come to market again with, get this, a promise you've made to the Donor Class, and, get this, a promise you've made to everyone else. Gee, I wonder who you've told the truth to this time? Ergo, I'm going to insist you do this: Exactly nothing at all. Until you recognize that you have lost our trust, and not because we're wacko-bird hobbits, but because you are lying about every single vote you take, and work to repair that trust by meeting with us and being straight for us for a change, we're going to continue to oppose everything you corrupt, corporate-payroll liars propose or do. You do not respect us. You hold us in complete contempt. We are only dupes to be lied to, to be cadged into blessing the Donor Class' wishes. And then you have the gall to come to us and say, "Trust us this time?" I am ready to vote Democrat, just to spite you. I am ready to burn it all down. Try me. Try all of us. History repeats. It only repeats the bad parts, but it repeats.
#13. To: TooConservative, BobCeleste, CZ82, A K A Stone (#11)
(Edited)
The GOP voters know the he GOP is the free trade party and it has been for a long long time? Because some of them on here seem to thing the Democrats have been the free traders all along. The ratio is usually most Republican legislators support these free trade agreements with some Democrats. They seem to have a hard time accepting that. PS: Who is Ace?
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#2. To: Pericles (#1)
H R 644 RECORDED VOTE 12-Jun-2015 2:14 PM
QUESTION: Concurring in Senate amendments with amendment
BILL TITLE: Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015Ayes Noes PRES NV Republican 228 17 1 Democratic 12 173 3 Independent TOTALS 240 190 4
H R 1314 RECORDED VOTE 12-Jun-2015 1:54 PM
QUESTION: Concurring in portion of senate amendment preceding title II
BILL TITLE: Trade Act of 2015Ayes Noes PRES NV Republican 191 54 1 Democratic 28 157 3 Independent TOTALS 219 211 4
H R 1314 RECORDED VOTE 12-Jun-2015 1:47 PM
QUESTION: Concurring in portion of Senate Amdt comprising title II (except section 212)
BILL TITLE: Trade Act of 2015Ayes Noes PRES NV Republican 86 158 2 Democratic 40 144 4 Independent TOTALS 126 302 6
#5. To: BobCeleste, Pericles, CZ82, A K A Stone (#2)
QUESTION: Concurring in portion of Senate Amdt comprising title II (except section 212)
Democratic 40 144 4
Independent
TOTALS 126 302
#7. To: hondo68 (#5)
Actually more Republicans voted against it than Democrats. 158 vs 144. The LA Times headline is erroneous, essentially a lie.
#9. To: TooConservative (#7)
#11. To: Pericles (#9)
My fave take on this is how the GOP is trying to hide the fact it is the pro free trade party from its angry anti-free trade base.
TPA Passes, But TAA Fails: Bill In Limbo
—Ace
Try us, motherfuckers. We are ready to form another party and consign you corrupt, racist, backwards, uneducated money-grubbing dolts to the fate of the Whigs.
Replies to Comment # 11. I wouldn't agree. GOP voters know the GOP is the free trade party and it has been for a long long time.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 11.
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