Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Tuesday said he is emphatically against the new trade powers legislation that is moving through Congress.
“I have never, ever … supported a trade agreement, and I’m not going to start now,” the Nevada Democrat told reporters. “So the answer is not only no, but hell no.”
{mosads}Legislation that is set to move through committee this week would give President Obama fast-track authority to push new trade deals, with a final pact receiving up-or-down votes in the House and Senate.
Some Senate Democrats have voiced their concerns that work on the legislation, which was unveiled last week, is moving too quickly.
The Senate Finance Committee, led by Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and ranking Democrat Ron Wyden (Ore.), is expected to take up the proposal on Thursday.
Reid said that he won’t be actively trying to sink the trade bill, but added that “Ron Wyden knows how I feel.”
Wyden should “slow this thing down a little bit,” Reid said.