Posted on 01/31/2015 6:53:23 AM PST by cotton1706
The Obama administration said Friday it is not concerned with securing the votes of House Democrats on a bill giving the president greater authority to negotiate trade deals, as long as the bill passes Congress.
“What we seek is a majority in the House,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. “And whether that’s all Republicans, or a bunch of Republicans and a small number of Democrats, is frankly not something we’re particularly concerned about. We just want to see this piece of legislation pass.”
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In actuality, the president will likely need dozens of Democrats in the House to support the deal, which would limit Congress to a simple yes-or-no vote on a pair of major trade deals the White House is pursuing. That would give Obama greater leverage in the negotiations, where partner countries have expressed concern that Congress could try to alter a deal after terms have been settled. But the effort has garnered resistance from many Democrats who believe the free trade pacts would help business while hurting American workers. Organized labor has lobbied aggressively against the bill.
At a meeting with House Democrats Thursday night in Philadelphia, Obama conceded to skeptical members that past trade deals were not perfect, according to a Democratic staffer in the room. But he argued that the agreements would be an improvement from the status quo and pledged to get members access to more information about the substance of the agreements.
Earnest sidestepped the question of whether the White House had convinced enough Democrats to back the bill.
“The president wasn't there to count votes last night; the president was there to have a conversation about his strategy when it comes to these conversations about opening markets for American exports,” Earnest said.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
This needs to be stopped in the House!
There is nothing special about trade deals that they need to be removed from the deliberation and debate of the people through their representatives in their legislature!
I smell a RAT.
I am sure the Republicans will give him what he wants and he will negotiate trade deals to the detriment of our own companies and Constitutional provisions.
A RepublicRat. The voters thought they were electing tigers but got rodents.
Vote Republican!
Yes, that’s what the 2014 elections were all about - we wanted our representatives to give Obama more power.
Yep. I am still trying to visualize how things would have been “100 times worse,” if we had not sent the establishment back to Washington.
Lets just disband congress altogether. Apparently they only exist to raise money for themselves and to hob nob with the rich and famous.
Obama wants more power. Congress is willing to give it to him. There is officially only one branch of Government and Obama is it.
The voters should wise up after 20+ years of a steady increase of Republican traitors . Now there is no opposition party, just a Uniparty.
The math is quite simple...
RAT = 'Rat + GOPe
Your math doesn’t add up. Free trade is a conservative principle. I just don’t trust Obambi, for ANYTHING.
There is no free trade on either side of that equation.
It is the Imperial Party. The Republican Party is a minor subdivision. It was once a wholly owned Subsidiary but has been taken more in hand.
Both parties are completely sold out, on selling off American manufacturing.
BRING BACK AMERICAN JOBS.
Do it Republicans. Stop selling out America.
Tongue in cheek? There is no future in the Republican Party. I will vote Conservative when Conservatives separate from the Republican division of the Democrat Party.
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