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McConnell: Trade deal (TPA) about next president, not this one
Last edited Wed May 13, 2015, 02:19 PM - Edit history (1)
The Turtle can't wait to give TPA to the next Republican President because we know Republicans are all about the "most progressive trade deal" ever. 
McConnell: Trade deal about next president, not this one
In some ways, McConnell's work alongside President Barack Obama is more surprising than his old boss Sen. John Sherman Cooper's cooperation with President Lyndon B. Johnson. The two parties weren't nearly as polarized then as today.
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And now their unlikely partnership faces a stern test. In an initial vote Tuesday, Democrats who fear expanded trade hurts workers and the environment held together to block Senate consideration of the "trade promotion authority" Obama needs to conclude a Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. After weeks of backstage lobbying and vote-counting, they have to resume negotiations over ways to bring reluctant members of Obama's party along without alienating McConnell's Republicans.
"The Obama years are coming to an end," McConnell said during an interview in his Capitol hideaway office. "So now the action is on the Democratic side. And you are seeing that on trade. You've got the energy of the Elizabeth Warren faction kind of driving the agenda, pulling Hillary Clinton further to the left.
"This is a six-year bill," he added. "So what I've said to my members, if we want the next Republican president, who we hope will be sworn in less than two years from now, to have a chance to do trade agreements with the rest of the world, this bill is about that president as well as this one."
?v=1431525784
And now their unlikely partnership faces a stern test. In an initial vote Tuesday, Democrats who fear expanded trade hurts workers and the environment held together to block Senate consideration of the "trade promotion authority" Obama needs to conclude a Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. After weeks of backstage lobbying and vote-counting, they have to resume negotiations over ways to bring reluctant members of Obama's party along without alienating McConnell's Republicans.
"The Obama years are coming to an end," McConnell said during an interview in his Capitol hideaway office. "So now the action is on the Democratic side. And you are seeing that on trade. You've got the energy of the Elizabeth Warren faction kind of driving the agenda, pulling Hillary Clinton further to the left.
"This is a six-year bill," he added. "So what I've said to my members, if we want the next Republican president, who we hope will be sworn in less than two years from now, to have a chance to do trade agreements with the rest of the world, this bill is about that president as well as this one."
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