House plans Thursday vote on Obama's Pacific trade pact
House Republicans plan to hold another vote Thursday on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-nation trade pact supported by President Obama and most Republicans but opposed by many Democrats. House Democrats helped defeat the measure last week, but the bill up for a vote on Thursday is simpler, giving Obama fast-track authority to negotiate the bill without a separate measure with aid for U.S. workers displaced by trade.
If this streamlined bill passes, it would have to be taken up in the Senate, where a bipartisan majority passed a bill combining TPP fast-track and the workers' aid program. Republicans said Wednesday they will bring up the aid program in a separate bill, but it's not clear that will be enough to get the requisite number of Senate Democrats on board. Obama says as long as both bills reach his desk, he doesn't care if they come together or separate. Fast-track authority means Obama would present the finished deal to Congress for an up-or-down vote with no amendments allowed.
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