Democrats Still Fighting Each Other On Trade

Will Trade Promotion Authority Weaken the Dollar?

Today in Washington, D.C. - May 11, 2015
The House is not in session. It held a pro-forma session on Friday, May 8, 2015 for 7 minutes. The House will reconvene on May 12 at noon but any recorded votes are postponed until 6:30 PM.

The Senate will reconvene at 3 PM today. Following two hours of morning business, the Senate will take up S. Con. Res. 16, a resolution concerning American citizens in Iran. At 5:30, a vote is scheduled on S. Con. Res. 16.

While many grassroots Republicans question the pending trade bill, it is odd that with the President Obama supporting Trade Promotion Authority, progressive liberal Democrats are actually opposing the trade bill.

Democrats continue to fight each other with Sens. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) taking direct aim at President Obama and his trade agenda. And other Senate Democrats can’t seem to decide how they’ll vote on beginning a trade debate this week.

On Friday, The New York Times wrote, “President Obama on Friday lashed out at critics within his own party as he accused fellow Democrats of deliberately distorting the potential impact of the sweeping new trade agreement he is negotiating with Asia and standing in the way of a modern competitive economy.

“With the cutting tone he usually reserves for his Republican adversaries, Mr. Obama said liberals who are fighting the new trade accord, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, were ‘just wrong’ and, in terms of some of their claims, ‘making this stuff up.’ If they oppose the deal, he said, they ‘must be satisfied with the status quo’ and want to ‘pull up the drawbridge and build a moat around ourselves.’”

But the arrows aren’t all being fired between Democrats in Congress and the White House. There’s plenty of back and forth among Congressional Democrats by themselves.

However, The Wall Street Journal noted, "The Democratic leader initially objected to the Memorial Day target by saying the Senate had more pressing priorities, such as the extension of highway and intelligence programs, which will expire by the start of June.”

But then Reid changed his mind, The Journal notes. “His current gambit is to insist that the fast-track measure be combined with the currency legislation, the workers’ assistance bill and another bill that would extend an expiring program that provides trade preferences to sub-Saharan African countries.”

According to the WSJ, “The most significant development came when Ron Wyden of Oregon, ranking Democrat of the Senate Finance Committee, told fellow Democrats at a closed-door luncheon last week that he backed tying the four bills into a single package, according to two people familiar with the matter. Mr. Wyden, who had successfully worked to keep the four measures separate during a Finance Committee vote, won applause at the lunch, the people said.”

Like Reid, Wyden is apparently changing his mind on what’s important to him when it comes to trade. Other Democrat senators, whom President Obama invited to the White House as he made his case on Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) seem to be moving against the president.

National Journal writes, “On Thursday, the Senate Democratic caucus cheered Wyden during lunch after he urged Democrats to not support proceeding onto the bill unless Republicans agree to do all four bills first, according to an aide. California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a potential yes vote who talked trade last week at the White House with Obama and five other senators—Wyden, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Patty Murray of Washington, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and Chris Coons of Delaware—announced the four-bill package demand as her condition to vote aye Tuesday.”

Politico adds, “Lawmakers such as Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) have been fiercely whipping members against fast track for a year. She brought 151 Democrats together to oppose the legislation last year and predicted on Friday that if the House were to vote on the measure this month, it would fail. . . . Democrats have had their ears bent by both sides for months. The Obama administration has been holding briefings for the past three months for members to sell the trade deal. And on Thursday, United States Trade Representative Michael Froman and other top Obama administration officials will brief lawmakers on the trans-Pacific trade deal. Last week, Obama hosted a group of Senate Democrats at the White House to shore up support, and he has invited House Democrats for policy discussions on trade. He’s courting members of the Congressional Black Caucus and for weeks has sent top deputies to Capitol Hill to attempt to secure more votes.”

And it seems some Democrats are choosing to stand with Harry Reid over President Obama. Politico notes, “As for the planned Senate vote on Tuesday, there are signs Reid is prevailing on Democrats on both sides of the trade issue to stand by him. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) had been adamant that he’d vote against Reid but later turned around to say he can’t guarantee he’ll vote to advance the trade package . . . . Even Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has refused to say that he will vote to open debate on the trade legislation on Tuesday . . . .”

With both Democrats and Republicans opposing as well as supporting the Trade bill, aif the bill passes, it will be interested to consider what compromises were made by both sides of the isle.

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