The lawmaker in charge of crafting and publicizing policy for House Democrats pushed back against President Obama’s renewed drive for international trade agreements.
“Trade is going to be a very significant debate,” Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee Chair, said on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal Thursday morning.
“At the end of the day, I’m going to have to see in a trade deal that we’re not just increasing Gross Domestic Product, we’re increasing actual paychecks,” he said.
In his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, President Obama called on both parties to give him trade promotion authority as the administration negotiates new sweeping agreements with the European Union and Pacific Rim countries.
Trade promotion authority, or fast-track, would, if passed, prohibit Congress from making any amendments to a finalized trade agreement. The negotiated deals would only be subject to an up or down vote at the end of the process.
But lawmakers on the left and the libertarian right, as well as labor groups, are growing wary of trade deals, since NAFTA and China’s assent to the World Trade Organization have eroded the US manufacturing industry.
In addition, the secrecy surrounding both the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has spooked lawmakers into holding onto their ability to amend the deals. As The Sentinel has reported, lawmakers aren’t likely to be given access to a draft of the agreement before it has been completed, while corporate interests have said they’re pleased with how they have been interacting with the US Trade Representative throughout negotiations.
The scenario has the head of communications for House Democrats joining the opposition for the time being.
“I want to know the bottom line on my constituents’ paychecks. And if they bottom line is that paycheck is going to continue to get squeezed it’s going to be very difficult if not impossible for me to support a trade deal,” Rep. Israel said.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday evening that the White House has “deployed cabinet secretaries and set up a war room to promote fast-track trade legislation on Capitol Hill” targeting Democratic lawmakers who are still on the fence.
Rep. Israel said he has yet to see any “war room” at the Capitol, but that he had been contacted by the administration regarding his position on these trade deals.
“I expressed my view in good New York blunt-ese,” he said.
The White House responded, “We’ll come back to you,” he added.
Although the White House faces a revolt from its own party, President Obama is getting the support he needs for trade promotion authority from well-positioned congressional Republicans and big business interests.
As The Sentinel reported on Tuesday, the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), promised the US Chamber of Commerce that he intends to “move carefully, but quickly” to mark up a fast-track trade bill.
