Quo Vadis TPA?

Campus Report ^ | July 11, 2008 | Emily Miller

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Quo Vadis TPA?

by: Emily Miller, July 11, 2008

Congressional leadership resistance and election year politics are to blame for stalling the passage of the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA), said Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade Christopher A. Padilla last week at the Heritage Foundation. The TPA, previously called the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, was signed by the U.S. and Colombia two years ago in November of 2006, yet it still awaits congressional approval needed for final passage.

Padilla, frustrated with Congress’ inaction, points the finger at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for thwarting the TPA’s progress. The Bush administration sent the agreement to Congress for a straight up-or-down vote in April 2008, but Speaker Pelosi refused to put it up for the vote within the 90-day timeline, breaking procedural rules that grant trade agreements “fast track” authority through Congress. She said earlier this spring, “if brought to the floor immediately, it would lose. And what message would that send?”

Padilla now feels even more confident the TPA will garner enough votes from both sides of the aisle to constitute a “bipartisan majority.” He said, “I believe that if the agreement were put up for a vote and members were allowed to vote their consciences, I think we would get strong bipartisan support.”

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Padilla both escorted more than 25 Democrats to Colombia to see first-hand the transformation taking place there as a result of integrating Colombia into the global economy. Padilla said, “It’s fair to say they all came back very impressed with the progress and transformation in that country.”

Currently, about ten or 11 Democrats disagree with Pelosi’s freeze on the TPA, including representatives Gregory Meeks (NY), Joseph Crowley (NY), Jim Matheson (Utah), and Jim Cooper (Tenn.)...