House advances trade promotion revote

The House Thursday morning easily cleared a procedural hurdle to revote later in the day on giving President Obama fast-track authority to seal trade deals.

A procedural rule that sets parameters for floor debate passed on a vote of 244-181. Only one Republican voted against it, while seven pro-trade Democrats broke party lines to support the rule.

The lack of fanfare for Thursday’s rule vote stood in contrast to last week, when 34 Republicans nearly derailed the rule for considering the trade package. Eight Democrats ultimately voted at the last minute to save it.

{mosads}Rules are votes of party discipline, as they are essentially a referendum on the majority party’s strategy of handling legislation on the floor.

The House is now slated to vote early Thursday afternoon on fast-track, also called trade promotion authority (TPA).

TPA passed last week, but the House failed to pass an aid package that was procedurally tied to it. The same 28 Democrats who pushed TPA to passage are expected to support it again Thursday, when it will be uncoupled from the aid measure.