Dem’s rival trade plan quashed

The top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday lost his bid to make wholesale changes to a Republican-backed measure that would fast-track trade deals through Congress. 

Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) upheld a point of order on an alternative plan offered by Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) saying that it crossed into the Rules Committee’s jurisdiction and wouldn’t get a vote by the panel. 

Levin urged Republicans to reconsider their decision, arguing that the committee was the only place Democrats could make major changes to the trade promotion authority (TPA) legislation. 

“What’s happening here is trying to use a point of process against major policy. That is major mistake,” Levin told the committee. 

Ryan argued that he allowed debate on Levin’s amendment when he could’ve immediately ruled it out of order.

Levin pressed his point — that Ryan’s bill and his substitute have the same jurisdiction — but made no headway. 

“By doing this you’re locking the door and throwing away the key, and this isn’t how this body should operate,” Levin said. 

He said his option would “give Congress the authority to decide whether the administration has adhered to the negotiating instructions” instead of ceding that power. 

The Ways and Means panel is expected later Thursday to approve a measure bolstering the chances that President Obama will see at least two major trade agreements pass Congress before he leaves office. 

The House likely would bring the bill to the floor early next month.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said earlier in the day that she was concerned that the Republicans would stop Levin’s amendment, which she and other Democratic leaders support.

“Why wouldn’t the Ways and Means Committee give equal treatment, or at least just a time to be heard, by the Levin proposal, which is a substitute, but based on the realities of life?” Pelosi said. 

“It’s a trade agreement. It’s a compromise. So they’re saying, “We can’t hear yours because it wasn’t waived by Rules. And we wouldn’t let Rules waive yours, but we insisted that Rules waive our bill,” she said. 

“They must be afraid of something. They must be afraid of something.”

Pelosi said the fast-track measure backed by Republicans and the president would lead to another round of bad trade agreements that hurt U.S. workers. 

That alternative “recognizes that TPP [the Trans-Pacific Partnership] has the potential to raise standards and open new markets for U.S. businesses, workers and farmers, and makes suggestions on how to do so,” Pelosi said on Wednesday.

The 12-nation TPP, which is on the verge of approval, and a deal with the European Union are top economic priorities for the White House. 

Fast-track gives Congress an up-or-down vote on trade pacts and doesn’t allow for amendments.

The heated trade debate has created a rare alliance between the president and congressional Republicans, who have joked about the strange partnership over the past few days of hearings and markups.

Ryan on Thursday said he was having an “out-of-body experience” defending the president and other Obama administration officials on trade. 

Obama and GOP leaders say that a failure to pass fast-track would torpedo the trade agenda. 

The issue has otherwise splintered Democrats, putting the White House at odds with members of the president’s party. 

Liberal Democrats say the fast-track bill sets the stage for a TPP agreement that will lead to job losses in the U.S.

Mike Lillis contributed.