Posted on 06/11/2015 8:20:15 AM PDT by GIdget2004
President Barack Obama’s trade agenda is running into potentially fatal opposition within his own party on the eve of a critical vote, and there might be only one person who can save it: Obama himself.
Speaker John Boehner’s plan to bring a package of trade bills to the House floor Friday is proving to be a big gamble, as both senior Republicans and Democrats are privately wondering whether they have the votes to pass several key portions.
The most pressing concern is over Trade Adjustment Assistance, a program to retrain workers who lose their jobs to free trade. The initiative is not very popular with Republicans, and aides in both parties estimate that only 50 to 100 GOP lawmakers will vote for it. And with unions actively lobbying against the bill, a senior House Democratic aide said it will be “a major problem” to wrangle “significant House Democratic support” for the measure.
That jobs assistance bill needs 218 votes to pass. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), a close ally of Minority Leader Pelosi (D-Calif.), has been vocal against TAA, and raising other objections about the package. This is a serious problem for Obama. If TAA fails, the House will not take up Trade Promotion Authority, the key legislation that would give Obama fast-track authority to negotiate the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Under that scenario both sides would have to regroup and figure out a way forward — or else the 12-nation trade deal could fall apart.
At a Democratic whip meeting Thursday morning, Labor Secretary Tom Perez tried to convince lawmakers to approve the package. Democrats wanted to better understand the process Boehner plans to use. Pelosi, in the meeting, said the Medicare offset that has angered liberals has been fixed, in a sign she’s growing frustrated with liberal opposition.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Kabuki theater.
Good. I hope it happens.
This is the price the Republican Establishment should be forced to pay for trying to form an alliance with the Current Regime.
And I don’t care which of the Republicans, Establishment or Tea Party, may have voted in favor. It is still a bad deal and should be sunk.
Summarily.
Until an EQUITABLE trade agreement may be worked out.
And confined to questions concerning trade and ONLY trade.
You are either FOR or AGAINST the Corporate Cartels!
Boehner is invoking the Hastert rule: He won’t bring a bill to the floor unless a majority of the House Democrat caucus supports it..
[grit teeth]....[swallow very hard]...
Rah, Rah
Sis-Boom-Bah!
Go, Liz Warren
Rah! Rah! Rah!
Have to go take a shower now.
Eventually they eat their own.
When we have to actually rely on Democrats...
I thought the Hastert Rule was about paying hush money.
Maybe it’s the same thing either way?
The only show in town...
Agreed. We've seen this show before.
It’s no longer possible to separate the good guys (and gals) from the bad ones. Remember when Paul Ryan was an up-and-coming “conservative” leader...? (Not my words, by the way.)
Democrats ... doing the job Republicans (fools, whores,
traitors, and liars) won’t do because the GOP
is the ..... GAVE OBAMA POWER (GOP) party.
Every republican should be opposed to this monstrosity and Johm Boehner should be tossed out on his lying keister.
I really don’t care who sinks it, as long as it sinks. We can deal with the stinkers after it sinks.
My new hero, Marci Fudge. How did the DC world get this crazy?
My past experience with these “re-training” programs is it funnels $$$ to local gov to fund people to run re-training.
It never actually finds new trades for anyone.
Hate to find myself in agreement with Dems on something. The issue for me is transparency. Maybe the thing is better than the invention of sliced bread...but if you have to hide the law from the public before it is passed, then the thing stinks!
Too funny.
Maybe the Rino Leader will finally realized that because of his position he can no longer be trusted. But I doubt it.
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