House Republicans on Thursday put their weight behind White House-backed trade legislation that would pave the way for passage of sweeping global agreements.
The House Ways and Means Committee approved a trade promotion authority (TPA) measure — 25-13 — with only two Democrats lending their support to the divisive bill, highlighting the difficulty President Obama is having courting members of his own party.
As expected, Democratic Reps. Ron Kind (Wis.) and Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) backed the measure.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the Ways and Means panel, argued that TPA, also known as fast-track, “gets us a seat at the table to write the rules on the global economy” and said Congress must pass the measure or risk the failure of the ambitious trade agenda.
Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) argued "the world is not standing still” and that economic activity is moving at “a furious pace in Asia and around the world.”
“We need to be sending the signal that American leadership is back … [and] we're back fully engaged in economic foreign policy,” he said.
The House’s action follows the Senate Finance Committee’s approval by a 20-6 vote — with seven of the panel’s 12 Democrats favoring its version of the bill — late Wednesday night, setting up floor votes in each chamber sometime next month.
Approval of the legislation bolsters Obama’s plans to forge far-reaching trade deals from Europe and Latin America to the Asia-Pacific, which represents more than 60 percent of the world economy.
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/239940-house-panel-approves-obama-trade-powers-bill
KOREA’S FTA 2014: http://henrypatrick1736.blogspot.com/2014/11/south-korea-fta-countries-signed-grows.html
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