House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), long one of President Obama's strongest and most reliable allies on Capitol Hill, announced Friday that she would vote against a key worker-related measure included in President Obama's 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Moments later, the House voted overwhelmingly, 302-126, against the measure, known as Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), dealing a potentially fatal blow to the massive Pacific trade deal that Obama has worked on for months.
Obama met with Democrats on Capitol Hill on Friday morning and specifically asked for their votes. Pelosi's stand and the resulting landslide vote were a major blow to the president. It could potentially submarine Obama's larger push to gain "fast track" authority for the TPP, which would restrict future congressional approval of the massive trade deal to a yes-or-no vote, and possibly even sink the entire trade deal. The Senate has already approved fast track authority, and many House Republicans also sided with Obama.
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