President and Republicans favor the Asia-Pacific trade pact.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday before a Senate Finance Committee hearing on “fast track” authority. Major labor unions and business groups clashed over President Barack Obama’s bid for fast track authority to advance trade deals being negotiated with numerous nations.
Intensifying a feud within his own party, President Barack Obama says Democrats who oppose a proposed free trade agreement are wrong and he will fight them to get the measure passed.
In an interview with MSNBC host Chris Matthews for Tuesday night’s “Hardball” TV show, Obama predicted that Congress will give him “fast-track” authority to negotiate a massive trade deal with 11 nations in Asia and the Pacific region this year.
Obama singled out for criticism Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a favorite of liberals who oppose the deal. “I love Elizabeth,” Obama said. “We’re allies on a whole host of issues. But she’s wrong on this.” Warren says the emerging deal would hurt U.S. workers and result in exporting jobs to low-wage countries. She argues that the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership would “help the rich get richer and leave everyone else behind.”
But Obama said, “I would not be doing this trade deal if I did not think it was good for the middle class. And 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.”
The battle over trade pits Obama and, apparently, most Republicans in Congress against members of Obama’s own Democratic party, who are now in the minority in the House and Senate. The extent of the opposition within the Democratic party became vivid Tuesday when Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., leader of Senate Democrats, said he opposes the deal. Asked by a reporter whether he would support legislation to facilitate passing the giant trade bill, Reid said, “The answer is not only no, but hell no.”
And Hillary Clinton, Obama’s former secretary of state and the leading Democratic presidential candidate for 2016, was vague on whether she would back the emerging agreement. Campaigning in New Hampshire, Clinton said, “Any trade deal has to produce jobs and raise wages and increase prosperity and protect our security.”
The trade agreement is opposed by many Democratic liberals and union leaders, who are important constituencies in the presidential contest. Congressional Republicans generally support it.
The latest maneuver on Capitol Hill is an effort by Republicans and the White House to subject any trade deal negotiated by Obama to an extensive review by Congress, according to the New York Times. This is designed to win over skeptics who want the opportunity to carefully examine the agreement, but the review could also give adversaries a longer time to organize their opposition.
In addition, the public is expressing rising optimism about the economy, which could give Obama more credibility on the trade issue and help him make his case. A new CNN/ORC poll finds that for the first time since September 2007, more Americans have a positive view of the economy, 52 percent, than a negative one, 48 percent. And optimism about the economy is fueling a rise in voter approval of Obama, the pollsters said. Forty-eight percent of Americans say they approve of the job Obama is doing and 47 percent disapprove, the first time more have approved than disapproved of Obama’s job performance since May 2013.
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