Stopping the TPP and fast track: Unlikely allies seek to limit Obama trade powers
What could conservative Republican Reps. Michele Bachmann and Walter Jones and liberal Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro possibly agree on?
They all want to limit President Barack Obama’s ability to “fast-track” international trade deals.
The three representatives are gathering lawmakers’ signatures on letters that seek to block Obama from using the fast-track process called Trade Promotion Authority, which limits Congress to up-or-down votes on free-trade agreements and bars all amendments. Every president since Richard Nixon has had that power, although it lapsed in 2007 because of a lack of major trade deals requiring its reauthorization.
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The issue could come to a head this fall, when bills are expected to be introduced in the House and Senate to restore the presidential fast-track authority. Sources say the staffs of House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and ranking member Sander Levin (D-Mich.), as well as Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), have worked for months to smooth out the details.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/obama-trade-powers-bachmann-jones-delauro-95759.html#ixzz2chkHcC9N
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