Republican Boost on Senate Finance Bodes Well for TPA, Say GOP Lawmakers
The boost in Republican ranks in the next Congress bodes favorably for Trade Promotion Authority passage through the Finance Committee, said incoming committee chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in a Dec. 16 interview. Hatch pledged to re-introduce the bill and muster congressional support for it “relatively early” next Congress, but the bill is not likely to advance through both chambers without more presidential support, he said. President Obama reiterated his support for TPA and the broader trade agenda in recent days (see 1412120003). Many Republican lawmakers say he still needs to do more.
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After a sweeping mid-term election victory, the Senate Republican leadership added Sens. Dan Coats, R-Ind., Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Tim Scott, R-S.C., to the Finance Committee on Dec. 15. Hatch said TPA will garner “yes” votes from some Democrats on the committee and “most” Republicans. The legislation is critical to landing the best Trans-Pacific Partnership and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership pacts for American workers and the economy, he said. Hatch co-introduced in January the only TPA bill currently in Congress.
Negotiators in other TPP countries will not bring their best offers to U.S. counterparts if a full congressional amendment process looms, said Hatch, echoing a common argument that without the fast-track mechanism in TPA, a TPP bill will potentially be gutted through the amendment process in both chambers. “We’ve moved in many decent directions on both TPP and TTIP,” said Hatch. “So [TPP negotiators] bringing those basically to a conclusion won’t happen until the [negotiating partners] know that we’ve got TPA. Even if they do happen without TPA, we’ll find that we will not get the kind of language that we need, say on intellectual property, which is an extremely important part of it to us, just to mention one area.”
Heller is set to join the committee in January after more than three years in the Senate, but he served on the Ways and Means Committee during his tenure in the House. The Finance Committee appears positioned to move forward on TPA with a support cushion, he said on Dec. 16. “I look favorably on the trade bills. I think it’s the only growth opportunity that we have in our economy,” said Heller. “Needless to say I’ll follow the chairman’s lead on that.”
A spokesman for Scott declined to comment on his TPA stance. Meanwhile, both Hatch and Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., declined to comment on who will lead the Finance Trade Subcommittee in January. Isakson is currently the ranking member of the subcommittee.
Isakson said outgoing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., remains the primary obstacle to TPA in the Senate. Nonetheless, the bill is likely to pass through committee, he said. Hatch "has said he wants it. I don’t know why TPA wouldn’t pass out of the committee, then it’d come to the floor of the Senate. And I think the votes are there to pass it," said Isakson. “It’d be about at least 60 percent of the Republican conference and at least 40 percent of the Democratic conference.” In 2002 Trade Promotion Authority passed the Senate with 64 votes (here) and the House with 215 out of 435 votes (here).