WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday agreed to extend the deadline for holding a second vote on the trade adjustment assistance (TAA) legislation until July 30, buying more time to find a way to advance President Barack Obama's trade agenda.
The House voted 236-189 to give the lower chamber additional six weeks to take another vote on the TAA measure, which provides relief for U.S. workers who lose their jobs as a result of U.S. trade deals with other countries, after an initial vote failed Friday.
House Speaker John Boehner set up a process last week to hold a second vote on the TAA legislation on Tuesday, but it's not likely for him to get enough support in four days to pass the trade measure, which requires more than 90 lawmakers to switch their votes from no to yes. The House rejected the measure last week by a vote of 302 to 126.
Under the current extension, the House could now vote again on the trade measure anytime through July 30, giving the chamber more flexibility to figure out how to advance Obama's trade agenda.
As the TAA measure had been packaged with trade promotion authority (TPA) legislation, the congressional impasse could delay the conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, a top priority of Obama's second-term economic policy.
Other TPP participants have signaled that they would like to put their best offers on the table and conclude the Asia-Pacific trade deal, which covers 40 percent of the global economy, only after the Obama administration has secured the TPA from Congress. The TPA, also known as fast-track, would allow the president to submit trade deals to Congress for an up-or-down vote, without amendments.
But the TPA legislation could not reach Obama's desk for becoming law until the TAA measure has been approved by Congress under current rules for considering the trade package.
Singapore's Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam warned on Monday that Obama's credibility could suffer if he can't get Congress to pass the trade package.
"The president wants it, everybody knows this is important, and he can't get it through," he said at an event hosted by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. " How credible are you going to be?" Enditem
