Don’t count on us for trade votes, warns top House Democrat

The head of the House Democratic Caucus warned GOP leaders Wednesday that they shouldn’t count on Democrats to move trade legislation backed by President Obama and the Republicans.

Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) accused the Republicans of drafting the legislation without the input of House Democrats. He did not mention Obama’s strong support for the measure.

{mosads}”I don’t believe that the Republican leaders should count on Democrats to bail them out of their bill, which was not crafted in a way that would get a strong bipartisan vote,” Becerra said during a closed-door meeting of the caucus in the Capitol. 

“There’s a way to get a strong bipartisan vote, where I think all of us in Congress would want to participate and be a yes. And that is to engage everyone so that we all have a say, rather than say, ‘Do it my way, or hit the highway,’ ” he added. “At this point, even Republican members are hitting the highway.”

Authored by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), along with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the trade-promotion authority (TPA) legislation grants Congress an up-or-down vote on trade deals negotiated by the Obama administration but denies lawmakers the power to amend them.

Democratic support for the TPA bill will likely be crucial for GOP leaders to move the bill through the lower chamber, where a number of conservatives oppose the notion of granting Obama more power to move his ambitious trade agenda.

At least 12 House Democrats are on record backing the TPA bill, according to The Hill’s whip count, and that number is likely to grow in the coming days. It’s unclear how much Democratic support GOP leaders would need to reach the 217 votes required to pass the bill in the House.

The strange political dynamics have led to plenty of partisan finger pointing, with Democratic leaders accusing the Republicans of incompetence despite their sizable majority, and GOP leaders countering that Obama has failed in rallying members of his own party.

On Tuesday, the president’s trade agenda suffered a sharp blow when Senate Democrats blocked the TPA bill, largely over concerns that a separate Democratic proposal to fight currency manipulation would go ignored during the debate.

Both the White House and GOP leaders have downplayed the significance of that vote, with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) characterizing it as “a little bump in the road.”  

“I’m hopeful the Senate will act soon,” Boehner told reporters Wednesday. “When the Senate does, I hope we will act shortly thereafter.”

Hoping to break the impasse, Senate Democratic leaders on Wednesday floated a plan that would combine the fast-track authority with protections for workers and several other provisions favored by the Democrats. Their plan would also guarantee a separate vote on their currency manipulation measure.

Senate GOP leaders have yet to respond to the Democrats’ offer, but even House Democrats opposed to the TPA bill expect the Senate to reach a compromise that will send the bill to the lower chamber.  

“They’ll probably find a way to get this through at some point,” said Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), vice chairman of the Democratic Caucus.

— Scott Wong contributed.