Senate to Begin Debate on Trade Bill This Week

[yallerdawg]

Facts at: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/senate-reversal-debate-on-trade-bill-117963.html

The Senate voted Thursday to start debate on key trade legislation to “fast-track” a landmark Asia-Pacific free trade deal, reversing an embarrassing setback for President Barack Obama earlier this week and setting the stage for approval of the bill as soon as Memorial Day.

“It’s been years, decades even, since we’ve had a real debate over U.S. trade policy on the Senate floor,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said. “And I’m quite certain that we’ve got a spirited debate ahead of all us.”

The bill is packaged with a renewal of Trade Adjustment Assistance, a federal program dating to the 1960s that helps retrain workers who have lost their jobs because of import competition or companies moving production overseas. That program is opposed by many Republicans, who consider it ineffective. Still, none of the 52 Republicans who voted Thursday opposed moving the package, bringing the final tally to 65-33.

Ohio Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown has argued it would be “morally reprehensible” to pass the fast-track bill without renewing the aid program for displaced workers, especially in the face of White House plans to complete talks this year on the trade deal with Japan and 10 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.