Delayed trade deals gaining momentum

Chamber President Tom Donohue predicted that lawmakers will agree on a “clean” reauthorization of TAA in order to complete the deal. 

“We have not been shy about reminding people about our support for TAA,” Murphy added. 

An accord on TAA would set in motion the next phase of the process: mock markups. Those are likely to occur next week in the House Ways and Means Committee on all three trade deals with Korea, Panama and Colombia, Murphy said. 

A House aide told The Hill that bipartisan talks are continuing on the trade issues. 

Completion of the mock markups would then set up the three long-delayed trade deals for separate votes sometime in July, Murphy told reporters. 

The House and Senate are in session together, a component necessary to vote on the trade deals, for two weeks next month: July 11 to 15 and July 25 to 29. 

The acceleration in completing the deals comes as congressional supporters including the Chamber, along with other business lobbyists, ramp up their effort to urge Congress to pass the agreements this summer. 

The Obama administration has said in recent weeks that it won’t send the trade deals up to Capitol Hill for approval until there’s an accord on TAA, which expired in February. 

Senate Republican leaders have urged the White House to send up the three agreements without attaching other trade-related programs.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, (R-Ky.), along with Senate Finance Committee ranking member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) have been particularly outspoken, calling for the White House to drop its demand for TAA and get the three deals done. 

Hatch has called the TAA program too expensive and said it doesn’t have enough votes to get through Congress, which will lead to further delays on the trade deals. 

McConnell also had said he wants any talks about reauthorizing TAA to include discussions about extending Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), an issue the Obama administration has said isn’t on the table for consideration right now will look at down the road as negotiations advance on the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

While the movement on the trade deals appears to be accelerating, so are lobbying efforts in support and opposition, specifically by the Chamber and labor unions. 

Chamber President Tom Donohue announced Wednesday that the business group is intensifying its efforts to move the trade deals, which have support from Republicans and Democrats on both sides of the Capitol. 

The Chamber also unveiled a new website, www.TradeSupportsJobs.com, offering district-by-district details on U.S. exports and the jobs they support across all 50 states. 

“With facts and arguments, we’ll win this trade debate and get these deals done,” Donohue said. 

In the process, Murphy says his group has engaged more than 400 state-based chambers throughout the country on the trade deals effort, which is more participation than for any other campaign. 

Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO launched its own lobbying campaign starting today with print ads blasting the U.S.-Colombian trade agreement over union workers rights. 

The labor union also is planning a press conference on Thursday with members of Congress, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Communications Workers of America (CWA) President Larry Cohen to discuss violence against Colombia trade unionists. 

On Monday, the U.S. Trade Representative announced that Colombia had met another set of milestones outlined under the labor action plan the country agreed to with the administration, essentially clearing the way for the deal to head to Capitol Hill. 

That labor action plan was designed to improve the country’s labor rights record before its trade deal with America was approved. 

The AFL-CIO, however, has said that the plan is not enough and Colombia should not be rewarded with a trade deal.