Senate Democrats vote to block Obama on trade

Senate Democrats vote to block Obama on trade

“Until there is a path to get all four bills passed, we will — certainly most of us — have to vote no,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a supporter of President Obama’s trade agenda, after a meeting with fellow pro-trade Democrats. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

MIKE DEBONIS 
3:09 PM

President Obama’s fellow Democrats derailed one of his major second-term priorities Tuesday, voting to hold up consideration of “fast track” trade authority unless related measures are guaranteed to proceed alongside it.

The trade legislation failed an afternoon test vote, 52 to 45. Sixty votes were needed to begin formal debate of measures that would pave the way for approval of a complex Pacific trade accord and provide relief to unemployed workers affected by trade deals.

Ahead of the vote, many Democrats — including some of the handful who have supported Obama’s trade push — said they were not inclined to move forward with debate unless Republican leaders provided assurances that the various pieces would move in tandem.

[How Obama could face a filibuster from his own party on trade]

About an hour before the vote, that included Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who negotiated the trade package with top Republicans in the House and Senate and who has been a rare ally of Obama’s trade agenda inside the president’s party.

“Until there is a path to get all four bills passed,” Wyden said after a lunchtime meeting with fellow pro-trade Democrats, “we will — certainly most of us — have to vote no.”

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that Republicans were willing to attach “trade adjustment assistance” — that is, funding authority for worker assistance programs — to the fast-track bill. But he made no pledge to include a trade enforcement bill — which would, among other things, take aim at Chinese currency manipulation and is opposed by the administration — or a fourth bill concerning trade with Africa.

McConnell said those provisions could be attached by amendment to the bills under consideration. “This is a vote to begin a process,” he said on the Senate floor. “This is a vote to begin a debate on a broad trade agenda.”