President Obama is facing a Democratic revolt over ambitious trade
initiatives that are dividing the party, leading to tensions with
everyone from Senate party leader Harry Reid to liberal icon Elizabeth
Warren.
The disagreements erupted on Wednesday as leaders of the Senate
Finance Committee tried to proceed with a vote on trade legislation, but
liberal opposition quickly delayed the process.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a fierce opponent of the trade push,
invoked a Senate scheduling rule to sideline the committee's actions for
hours. "This job-killing trade deal has been negotiated in secret,"
said Sanders, who made a lengthy Senate speech denouncing the
legislation.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, vowed the
committee would finish the bill Wednesday. "I don't care how much time
it takes," he said.
The flare-up was just one of many in the Democratic ranks. In a blunt
challenge to the president, Reid told reporters earlier this week: "I'm
not only no, I'm hell no" on Obama's proposal.
The Senate Finance Committee eventually endorsed Obama's request for
"fast track" legislation late Wednesday, which would renew presidential
authority to present trade deals that Congress can endorse or reject but
not amend. The committee voted 20-6 to pass the fast track bill. The
only committee Republican voting no was Sen. Richard Burr of North
Carolina.
If the House and Senate eventually comply, the legislation would ease
the way for sweeping trade deals. Obama wants "fast-track" powers to
help move free-trade proposals such as the 12-nation Trans-Pacific
Partnership.
This, in turn, would make it easier to approve deals like the controversial TPP.
But that authority, and those proposals, face resistance from labor
unions and liberal groups who say free-trade pacts hurts U.S. jobs.
They lost a round Wednesday. The Finance Committee narrowly defeated a
"currency manipulation" measure that Obama aides said would unravel the
Pacific Rim deal. Votes for and against the provision were about evenly
divided between Republicans and Democrats, highlighting the unusual --
and possibly tenuous -- political alignments on trade.
The push-back now has Obama on defense, as he tries to muster a bipartisan coalition.
"I would not be doing this trade deal if I did not think it was good
for the middle class," Obama said in an interview Tuesday with MSNBC.
"When you hear folks make a lot of suggestions about how bad this trade
deal is, when you dig into the facts, they are wrong."
In the interview, Obama specifically called out deal critic Elizabeth
Warren, a Massachusetts Democratic senator and hero of liberal groups.
"I love Elizabeth. We're allies on a whole host of issues. But she's wrong on this," Obama said.
Few issues divide Democrats more than trade. Obama, like former
President Bill Clinton, supports free trade, but many Democratic
lawmakers do not.
Clinton's and Obama's stands -- and liberal groups' opposition --
pose a dilemma for Hillary Clinton, the former first lady now seeking
the presidency herself. Campaigning Tuesday in New Hampshire, she
declined to say whether she supports the Pacific-rim proposal.
"We need to build things, too," Clinton said, taking a
pro-manufacturing stance generally embraced by both parties. "We have to
do our part in making sure we have the capabilities and skills to be
competitive," she said, while getting back to "a much more focused
effort, in my opinion, to try to produce those capacities here at
home."
This week, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, called the
trade deal "fragile," noting that Democratic support is necessary.
Republican sources say Obama needs to impress his desire for this trade
pact on his Democratic allies.
Amid the divisions in Democratic ranks, Fox News has learned there is
an effort afoot among congressional Democrats to court just enough from
their side not to embarrass the president.
But Senate Finance Committee member Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., says the
administration must press China to stop manipulating its currency, even
though China isn't a party to the Pacific-rim negotiations. "I'm
disappointed in the efforts by President Obama," Schumer said at a
committee hearing Tuesday.
If a nation keeps its currency value artificially low, it can boost
exports by making local products more affordable to foreigners.
Economists disagree on whether China still engages in the practice, and
the Obama administration says it addresses currency manipulation in the
fast-track bill.
Republicans generally support trade pacts. But Obama can't count on
them alone to push the fiercely debated bills through the GOP-controlled
House and Senate.
Most or all Finance Committee Republicans support fast track.
Democratic supporters include Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Maria Cantwell
of Washington, Tom Carper of Delaware and Mark Warner of Virginia.
Committee passage would move the bill to the full Senate. The House has yet to vote on fast track this year.