Senate

McConnell blames Dems for bottleneck on trade

by Jordain Carney - 05/20/15 10:28 AM ET

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday placed the blame squarely on Democrats for the stalemate over amendments to a key trade bill.

The Kentucky Republican said while he is continuing to try to allow for additional amendments to the fast-track legislation, Democrats are standing in the way.

{mosads}”There have been objections from the other side of the aisle, and I would remind our colleagues that even with my strong support, the Senate can’t have a robust amendment process if every single amendment offered by Democrats or Republicans is objected to by our friends on the other side,” the Republican leader said.

He added that Republicans will “need cooperation. The Senate can’t vote on amendments that are being prevented.”

Senators had been expected to vote Tuesday on at least a handful of amendments to the trade promotion authority bill, which allows the president to get his trade deals approved by a simple majority vote. But that effort appeared to hit a wall after Democrats blocked Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) from scheduling more votes.

Democrats wanted Hatch to block McConnell from filing cloture on the trade bill until Wednesday, but he declined.

More than 100 amendments have been filed to the trade bill from both sides of the aisle, but so far senators have taken only two votes, both on Monday.

The amendment fight has focused on two issues: A currency amendment from Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), and another to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.).

The Portman-Stabenow amendment would require that any future trade deals include enforceable currency provisions.

The Obama administration, as well as Senate Republican leadership, have warned the bill would be vetoed if Portman’s amendment is included.

“The Portman-Stabenow amendment will kill TPA,” Hatch said. “It is at this point a verifiable fact.”

Hatch said he and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) had introduced a separate amendment on currency that he said would give the administration a “workable set of tools to counteract manipulation” without jeopardizing the trade legislation.

Wyden also tried to separate the currency fight from the trade bill on Wednesday, saying that senators will be able to battle it out over currency as part of a conference committee on a customs bill later this year.

“We are going to have a chance to tackle currency in that conference,” Wyden said.

Meanwhile, the fight over extending the charter of the Ex-Im Bank bubbled over on Tuesday night.

McConnell said earlier on Tuesday that the bank would get a vote, but that it shouldn’t be a part of the trade bill.

Cantwell said Tuesday that she would continue to object to the trade bill until she was told how the bank’s charter would be extended.

“Until our colleagues give us an answer about something we’ve been clear about for more than a year, we are going to continue to object,” she said. “We’re not going to let this bank expire, the credit agency, without a fight.”

And Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned McConnell he wouldn’t vote with him “on anything else this year” until he gets a vote on the bank.

Reid on Wednesday credited Cantwell for pressing on the bank, adding that without her “it would be gone with all the other stuff that goes into the trash can because of the Republicans.”

“The Republican leader said over and over again that he’s opposed to the bank,” he said. “Well, that’s too bad.”

Tags Debbie Stabenow Lindsey Graham Maria Cantwell Mitch McConnell Orrin Hatch Rob Portman Ron Wyden