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Title: Obama’s Trade Bill Gets Boost as Mitch McConnell Vows Vote ‘Soon’
Source:
Bloomberg
URL Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/a ... anders-can-advance-their-cause
Published: May 6, 2015
Author: Billy House
Post Date: 2015-05-06 08:30:14 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 954
Comments: 5
The Senate majority leader says he has been working with the White House on passing the deal. The U.S. Senate will take up legislation to give President Barack Obama the trade negotiating authority he wants “very soon,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. “It’s been almost an out of body experience but we’ve been working closely with the White House,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday as he said the trade bill would follow action on two other measures. “We’re working together to try to get it across the finish line.” Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, a foe of “fast-track” trade authority, called on Republicans to first consider measures to extend federal highway funding and modify U.S. surveillance laws. The Obama administration is seeking to build a coalition of mostly Republicans and a few Democrats to back the trade bill, which lets the president send agreements in Congress for a quick vote without amendments. Obama says the ability will help him complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a top second-term goal. In the House, the bill faces opposition from most Democrats and some Republicans. House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, has said Obama will need to persuade Democrats to back him, something McConnell said is happening. “At the risk of having some of you literally faint, I want to compliment the president for the way he’s handling the trade issue,” McConnell said. ‘Clear-Eyed Look’ White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Tuesday said the administration has made the case to individual lawmakers, emphasizing that the trade measure is good for workers. “The president is hopeful that Democrats, as they take a clear-eyed look at this proposal will acknowledge that the best way to advance the kinds of progressive values and the best way to advance the interests of middle class families all across the country, is to support this particular trade bill,” Earnest said. McConnell brushed off Reid’s request to delay action until Congress disposes of the Highway Trust Fund extension and modification of the Patriot Act, which covers surveillance. Setting the agenda is “the responsibility of the majority, and we’ll be going to do trade promotion authority next,” McConnell said. Asked whether 60 senators would vote to advance the bill, a procedural step in a chamber where Republicans hold 54 seats, McConnell said: “We sure hope so. We’re working it hard.” Seven Democrats voted in the Senate Finance Committee to approve the bill, suggesting Reid lacks the votes to stall the measure. Democratic Votes In the House, the number of Democrats saying they are willing to vote for the legislation increased the past few days, bringing the total to at least 16 who are publicly supportive. Democratic Representatives Ami Bera of California and John Delaney of Maryland last week said they’d vote yes. And Representative Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon also came out in favor yesterday. “A trade agreement done right will not only make it easier to sell American-made goods, it will level the playing field by reducing tariffs that currently make it difficult to compete in many of the world’s markets,” Bonamici said on her website. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, who sets the floor-vote schedule, signaled to fellow Republicans in a memo last week there will be no vote on fast-track authority until at least after the Memorial Day recess. McCarthy said the House will “continue to lay the groundwork” for passing negotiating authority this month. Early projections inside the House from both sides of the aisle -- and from some outside groups -- suggest there is a floor of about 180 House Republicans inclined to support a trade promotion authority bill, and a ceiling of about 200 Republicans. Overall, 217 votes will be needed for passage in a chamber where 432 seats are now filled.
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#1. To: cranky (#0)
Another reason McConnell should NOT have been reelected.
Si vis pacem, para bellum
The U.S. Senate will take up legislation to give President Barack Obama the trade negotiating authority he wants “very soon,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. By supporting 0bama and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, McConnell and the rest of the NWO globalist Republicans are traitors. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would grant enormous new powers to corporations, is a massive assault on democracy. Think of the TPP as a stealthy delivery mechanism for policies that could not survive public scrutiny. Indeed, only two of the twenty-six chapters of this corporate Trojan horse cover traditional trade matters. The rest embody the most florid dreams of the 1 percent—grandiose new rights and privileges for corporations and permanent constraints on government regulation. They include new investor safeguards to ease job offshoring and assert control over natural resources, and severely limit the regulation of financial services, land use, food safety, natural resources, energy, tobacco, healthcare and more. The stakes are extremely high, because the TPP may well be the last “trade” agreement Washington negotiates. This is because if it’s completed, the TPP would remain open for any other country to join. In May US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said he “would love nothing more” than to have China join. In June Mexico and Canada entered the process, creating a NAFTA on steroids, with most of Asia to boot. Countries would be obliged to conform all their domestic laws and regulations to the TPP’s rules—in effect, a corporate coup d’état. The proposed pact would limit even how governments can spend their tax dollars. Buy America and other Buy Local procurement preferences that invest in the US economy would be banned, and “sweat-free,” human rights or environmental conditions on government contracts could be challenged. If the TPP comes to fruition, its retrograde rules could be altered only if all countries agreed, regardless of domestic election outcomes or changes in public opinion. And unlike much domestic legislation, the TPP would have no expiration date.
Øbama's Mitch is bought and paid for. Not only does he have a seat for life, he can pass it on to whomever meets his price.
There are three kinds of people in the world: those that can add and those that can't
Not by their standards. Countries are so passé.
There are three kinds of people in the world: those that can add and those that can't
OBAMATRADE
" Obama’s Trade Bill Gets Boost as Mitch McConnell Vows Vote ‘Soon’ "
#2. To: cranky (#0)
The Senate majority leader says he has been working with the White House on passing the deal.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts
#3. To: Stoner (#1)
Another reason McConnell should NOT have been reelected.
#4. To: Deckard (#2)
By supporting 0bama and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, McConnell and the rest of the NWO globalist Republicans are traitors.
#5. To: Stoner (#1)
" Obama’s Trade Bill Gets Boost as Mitch McConnell Vows Vote ‘Soon’ " Another reason McConnell should NOT have been reelected.
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