Hillary says she would not have voted with Obama on trade

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last updated 19 June 2015

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama might see eye to eye on a lot of issues, but the fast-track trade bill is not one of them. In an interview on Ralston Reports on Thursday — the same day that the House passed legislation, 218-208 — Clinton said that if she were still in the Senate, she probably would not vote to give Obama fast track authority to finish negotiations with 11 Pacific Rim nations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — at least not as the bill stands now.

Based off the spread of votes in the House on Thursday, Clinton likely would be far from the only Democrat to break with the president on this particular vote. Only 28 House Democrats voted for the bill on Thursday, compared to 158 Democrats that voted against it. The biggest problem most Democrats — Clinton included — have with the bill is that it does not include the Trade Adjustment Assistance addendum, which would offer worker assistance provision for those negatively affected by global trade. "Right now I'm focused on making sure we get trade adjustment assistance," Clinton said in the Ralston Reports interview, "and I certainly would not vote for it unless I were absolutely confident we would get trade adjustment assistance."