Ryan ‘reasonably optimistic’ on trade bill

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) expressed optimism on Thursday that the House will pass a bill that would expedite trade agreements through Congress amid speculation that GOP opposition to it is growing.

{mosads}“I feel reasonably optimistic,” Ryan told reporters at a breakfast hosted by The Christian Science Monitor in Washington.

The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee wouldn’t provide any estimates as to how many Republicans might defect while pushing back against the notion that Republican dissent on the bill had climbed as high as 75 lawmakers.

“I don’t think it captures where we are, I don’t think it’s an accurate reflection of where we are,” he said in response to a figure in a Politico article.

He said that, once Republicans see that trade promotion authority, or fast-track, constricts the Obama administration from making decisions without congressional input, those arguments against the bill “pretty much fade away.”

He said most of the concern is rooted in an outdated, 13-year-old version of fast-track combined with a reflexive reaction to giving the president any more perceived power.

“When they understand it, they support it,” he said of his party’s lawmakers.

With the Senate expected to go first on its bill, the House is likely to pass fast-track sometime next month, although Ryan argued it will require Democratic help.

“It’s going to require both parties to work together to get it done,” he said.

He called on President Obama to deliver votes and argued, “I don’t think Democrats want to see him fail on such a major issue.”

Ryan called the updated version of fast-track a “belt and suspenders approach” to giving Congress the power it needs to steer trade negotiations while ensuring accountability on the objectives by the Obama administration and giving U.S. trading partners the assurances they need to put their best offers on the table.

Estimates of Democratic support among House lawmakers are hovering around 15 to 20 lawmakers.

Democrats are simultaneously ramping up their lobbying efforts of their own members. A majority of the New Democrat Coalition is heading to the White House later Thursday for a meeting with the president to craft a strategy to attract more Democratic votes.

On other issues, Ryan said he is still working on a fix for the Highway Trust Fund with Ways and Means Committee ranking member Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the panel’s ranking member.

He said the leaders are looking for about $10 billion to extend the fund, which expires at the end of the month, for the remainder of the year, mostly to deal with road construction. He said estimates are still being run on how to pay for that extension.

The Wisconsin Republican also said his eventual goal is to flatten individual tax rates into the mid-20 percent range.

Ryan stuck to his previous statements in saying that he wants to complete at least a phase one on tax reform sometime this summer and leave the fall open for any extender bills.