WASHINGTON --- Only days after rejecting President Barack Obama’s request for trade-promotion authority, the U.S. House is ready to take another shot at it.
A “re-vote” is expected Thursday.
Last week, the House set up a rule that required passage of both the trade-promotion authority (TPA) bill and a trade-adjustment assistance (TAA) bill to give aid to workers who lost their jobs as a result of global trade.
This time, the House intends to take up the two items separately, even though Obama has made it clear that he wants both passed.
Republican leaders say that will happen --- eventually.
“We are committed to ensuring both TPA and TAA get votes in the House and Senate and are sent to the president for signature,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said in a joint statement Wednesday.
Obama wants the trade authority to help him win passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade pact that would cover 40 percent of the world’s economy.
Opponents were mobilizing in an effort to defeat the plan once again.
“Apparently some politicians didn’t get the message after last week’s vote,” said Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of the Citizens Trade Campaign, a group that’s opposing Obama’s request.