Obama Trade Agenda Suffers Setback in House

CAPITOL HILL— President Barack Obama's ambitious Asia-Pacific free-trade agenda was dealt a serious blow Friday when the House of Representatives voted against part of a trade package.
A solid majority of Obama’s fellow Democrats joined most Republicans in easily defeating a measure that would have given aid to workers who lost their jobs as a result of U.S. trade deals.
The workers' aid piece of the overall legislation was required to make the rest of it go. Obama said the House's failure to approve it would “directly hurt about 100,000 workers and their communities.”
Even though lawmakers went on to approve so-called fast-track authority for Obama to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal, the overall vote was far from a victory for the president.
Republican lawmakers said they would bring the workers' aid portion up for a new vote by Tuesday.
The White House called Friday's vote “a procedural snafu,” and said it was confident that more Democrats could be persuaded to support the workers' aid part.
Many Democrats are concerned that the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal will send more American jobs overseas and hurt the environment. The workers' aid piece was initially included to appease Democrats.
Obama had gone to Capitol Hill on Friday morning to make a last-minute personal appeal to fellow Democrats.
Even so, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she would oppose the legislation.
Following the vote, she said in a statement that it was time for both parties to negotiate "a better deal for the American people" that provides "stronger protections for congressional priorities — especially labor rights and the environment."
Watch related video of the president on Capitol Hill

On the Republican side, House Speaker John Boehner, who supported the measure, said he was disappointed.
"Republicans did our part, and we remain committed to free trade because it is critical to creating jobs and growing our economy. ... This is an opportunity for the Democratic Party to take stock and move forward in a constructive fashion on behalf of the American people," he said.

White House press secretary John Earnest said the president would continue to aggressively lobby House members to win support for his free-trade agenda.
'Fast Track'

Washington is in the midst of an intense political squabble over proposed trade deals with Europe and a number of Pacific nations.  The debate has sometimes been hard to follow because of a blizzard of terms like TTIP, TAA and other unfamiliar acronyms like these.
So here is a brief guide to what all this means:
Trade Promotion Authority, or TPA, was blocked Tuesday on a procedural vote in the U.S. Senate.  TPA is supposed to give Congress a chance to give instructions to U.S. negotiators, who then work, often for years, to hammer out the best possible deal with other nations that trade with the United States.  Under TPA, Congress retains the responsibility to approve or reject a signed deal, but cannot amend the agreement.  Supporters say U.S. trading partners are not going to make their best offer if they think Congress will pick the deal apart.  Supporters expect to amend TPA and resubmit it for approval.
Trans Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is a proposed deal among 12 Pacific nations, including the United States.  Trade officials say this agreement is nearing completion, but some difficult issues remain.  Trade deal supporters say having TPA in place would make it easier to get a deal done between the United States and hard-bargaining trading partners.
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, is a proposed deal between the United States and the European Union.  These talks are said to be at a relatively early stage.
Trade Adjustment Assistance, or TAA, is a program intended to help workers displaced by foreign trade get the training they need to find new jobs.

The "fast-track" legislation, known as Trade Promotional Authority, or TPA, allows the White House to negotiate trade deals without letting Congress make any changes in them when they come up for approval or rejection.
Refusal to grant the negotiating authority would have made it much more difficult for the administration to secure the TPP deal, which is already years behind schedule. As a result, Obama spent significant political capital on the TPA issue.
At a closed-door meeting Thursday at the Capitol, senior White House officials urged House Democrats to support the fast-track bill. Later, Obama made a surprise visit to an annual congressional baseball game in Washington, where he further lobbied lawmakers.
Democrats oppose bill

Democratic efforts to scuttle the trade deal were focused on the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) safety net program that would offer to retrain workers who lose their jobs as a result of trade deals.
Such programs are usually supported more by Democrats than Republicans, but many Democrats said rejecting the initiative was the best way to kill the entire trade deal.
The countries negotiating the TPP are the U.S., Vietnam, Singapore, Peru, New Zealand, Mexico, Malaysia, Japan, Chile, Canada, Brunei and Australia. The U.S.-led pact aims to cover nearly 40 percent of global economic output when completed.
The White House has said the TPP would help further break down global trade barriers, open untapped markets and grow the economy, while providing an important counterbalance to the growing economic strength of China.