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Congressman Lowenthal And House Dem Leaders -- Joined By Cong. Dana Rohrabacher (Who Defied House GOP Leadership) -- Stall Obama-Sought "Fast Track" Trade Promotion Authority...For Now


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(June 12, 2015, 4:50 p.m.) -- As seen LIVE earlier today, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill -- 219 to 211 -- granting the President "fast track" Trade Promotion Authority to make trade agreements without Congressional changes (only a "yes" or "no" vote) but the House defeated a related bill (on worker retraining and community assistance) that has effectively stalled the White House desired trade authority...for now.

Cong. Alan Lowenthal (D. LB-West OC) voted "no" (with his party's House leadership against the President's wishes) and former LB Cong. Dana Rohrabacher voted "no" (along with 54 House Repubs defying their party's House leadership on "fast track" trade authority along with area Congressmembers Janice Hahn and Linda Sanchez (both Dems) who voted "no." For the full tally on fast track Trade Promotion Authority, click here.

That measure is now stalled because the House voted down a measure regarding worker retraining and assistance for communities whose text was part of Senate approval of "fast track" authority,,,and the House rejected the community assistance/worker retraining bill by a lopsided 126-302 margin. (Dems opposed its Repub-supported funding mechanism which they said tapped Medicare funding; they joined with a number of Repubs who didn't want to give President Obama additional authority.) On the worker retraining/community assistance measure, Lowenthal and Rohrabacher also both voted "no" (full tally here.)

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Giving the President "fast track" Trade Promotion Authority depended on House passage of the text of three bills because the Senate passed "fast track" Trade Promotion Authority with the text of all three bills. (A third measure (a customs/enforcement related measure) passed the House on a 240-190 vote (Lowenthal voting no, Rohrabacher voting yes, full tally at this link.)

If the House had passed all three bills (instead of only two), its approval would have given President Obama the power to complete negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a potentially sweeping proposed treaty whose text has still not been made public, and put it to Congress for only a "yes-or-no" vote with no amendments.

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Following the vote, Cong. Lowenthal released the following statement:

[Lowenthal release statement] International trade is a critical part of the 47th District's economy. At the same time, American workers and businesses should be able to conduct trade on a level playing field. I voted no on "fast track" trade promotion authority (TPA) because giving the president TPA means that Congress cannot amend a trade agreement--it can only vote to support or oppose an agreement negotiated by the President.

At present the President and his staff are negotiating the 12-party Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). After reviewing parts of the TPP agreement that have become public, I believe the TPP does not protect American workers and will result in the loss of American jobs.

In addition, the TPP includes Vietnam, a country that does not allow independent labor unions or protect the rights workers.

Sadly, the Senate and House leadership tied TPA to Trade Adjustment Assistance, a program to extend aid for American workers displaced by trade. While I support American workers who have lost their jobs due to outsourcing, I am disappointed that these two bills were tied together, and today I voted against both.

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Repub House Speaker John Boehner (in a rare procedure) made a floor motion to reconsider its vote on the first bill (basically a "do-over") which could come next week. Since the measure failed by a lopsided margin (mainly because of Dems), a lopsided number of Dems would have to change their votes or the White House and/or Repub majority would have to make some changes to the measure, or do somethign else acceptable to Dems without losing Repub support, to get it passed.

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