UPDATE 2:13 EDT – What it all means: The TAA vote is a huge loss for Obama and the establishment. The president was abandoned by Democrats in general and Pelosi in particular. It’s likely there will be another TAA vote on Tuesday. If that passes, the TPA vote from today stands. If it doesn’t, both are done.
UPDATE 2:06 EDT Chad Pergram Tweets that the second vote was a poke at President Obama:
UPDATE 2:01 EDT – Politico’s Jake Sherman explains the second vote was symbolic.
UPDATE 1:56 EDT House approves TPA by a 219-211 vote.
UPDATE 1:54 EDT – Final tally on TAA was 302-126 against.
UPDATE 1:53 EDT After rejecting TAA, the House is now voting on TPA.
UPDATE 1:51 EDT – Even after President Obama lobbied for TAA, Derek Wallbank of Bloomberg Tweets:
UPDATE 1:48 EDT Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy says the next two votes will be held. “The world is watching, I urge members to vote yes.”
UPDATE 1:48 EDT – Some 299 Reps. have voted against TAA. There were two other votes scheduled for this afternoon, but it’s unclear if they will be held.
UPDATE 1:47 EDT TAA has apparently been voted down overwhelmingly.
UPDATE 1:44 EDT – Vote totals aren’t final. But so far there are 273 no votes on TAA, considered the crucial first of three votes.
UPDATE 1:40 EDT – Time expires for the TAA vote, with more than 125 votes yet to be cast.
UPDATE 1:25 EDT – Politico reports — Obama: A vote against trade is a vote against me
UPDATE 1:25 EDT – The House begins voting on Trade Adjustment Assistance. It’s a 15 minute vote. If this measure is approved, two other votes are scheduled to follow.
UPDATE 1:22 EDT The House is about to vote on three measures, all promoted by President Obama and supported, mostly, by Republicans. In an op-ed, Rep. Pete Sessions makes the leadership’s argument for the agreements:
I worked with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to develop a new TPA that would guarantee Congress plays a meaningful role in all trade negotiations. The president possesses inherent authority to negotiate trade agreements with other countries, which means that without TPA, Congress is stuck on the sidelines. With TPA, the president has to follow 150 negotiating objectives given to him by Congress, which means that Congress would play a leading role in ensuring that we get a trade agreement that is representative of what the American people want. According to the Congressional Research Service, the TPA we developed “grants no new authority to the president.” It is vital that members of Congress and the American people have the opportunity to closely read the text of any completed trade agreement before Congress votes on it. That is why we added a new provision to TPA that would require that the president make public the text of a completed trade agreement for at least 60 days before he or she approves it. It would also require that the president submit to the committees of jurisdiction the final, legal text of a trade agreement at least 30 days before the president may submit an implementing bill to Congress.
UPDATE 1:19 EDT – The House Whip lays out the vote plan:
1) Motion to Concur in TAA – Title II (15 minutes) – Leadership & Chairman Ryan recommend a YES VOTE 2) Motion to Concur in TPA – Title I (5 minutes) – Leadership & Chairman Ryan recommend a YES VOTE 3) Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendments with an Amendment to H.R. 644 – Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (15 minutes) – Leadership & Chairman Ryan recommend a YES VOTE
UPDATE 1:17 Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI): “Language in bills isn’t enough.”
UPDATE 1:16 Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI): Voting no gives us time to get trade right.
UPDATE 1:15 – Less than 10 minutes of debate remaining. Rep. Sander Levin making closing argument for Democrat side against President Obama’s own trade deal.
UPDATE 1:14 Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi – “For these and other reasons I will be voting today to slow down the fast-track to get a better deal for the American people.”
UPDATE 1:13: – Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi “If TAA slows down the fast track, I am prepared to vote against TAA.”
UPDATE 1:12 EDT Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi “People would rather have a job than Trade Adjustment Assistance.”
UPDATE 1:05 EDT Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi talking as if she’ll oppose trade deals, but hasn’t exactly defined her position yet.
UPDATE 1:01 EDT – Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi takes the floor. She hasn’t taken a public position on the trade deals. “I was hopeful that we could find a path to yes,” she says. “Why are we fast-tracking trade, and slow-walking the highway bill?” She wants to slow the process down. “We want a better deal for America’s workers.”
UPDATE 12:52 EDT – Rep. Dan Lipinski (R-IL) “Vote no on TPA.”
UPDATE 12:47 EDT – 15 minutes of debate remain.
UPDATE 12:40 EDT – Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-VA) speaks in favor of the trade deals.
UPDATE 12:39 EDT – 20 minutes of debate remain.
UPDATE 12:34 EDT Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy stumps for the bills. “When we can not trade, our economy suffers,” he says. Trade Promotion Authority, he says, “allows us to get to an agreement.”
UPDATE 12:32 EDT – Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy thanks Chairman Paul Ryan for his work on trade.
UPDATE 12:25 EDT Dem Rep. Earl Blumenauer “I will vote for TPA,” but will work for changes in conference.
UPDATE 12:21 EDT – Rep. Steve King, (R-Iowa) urges lawmakers to pass all three trade measures, says they “are good for the United States of America.”
UPDATE 12:11 EDT – About 45 minutes of debate remain. UPDATE 12:07 EDT – on the Laura Ingraham radio show, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) explains his opposition to the trade deals.
The Speaker is suing the president because he won’t follow the law. Why would we give them additional authority? I can’t for the life of me understand why… I’m mystified… Calls [coming into my office] are, out of 1,000 calls, there’s probably 850 say don’t do it. The calls that said do it were after a brief flurry of advertising that was taken out in the District to try to sway my vote… I was merely trying to request information, particularly in that instance about the immigration issue, that I thought were unclear. And, if they’re unclear I promise you, this president has a penchant for exploiting them, and not just exploiting them but driving a truck through any loopholes. I was trying to do my due diligence on behalf of my constituents and drill down as to what it really meant, because we were being given assurances by other whips.
UPDATE 12:03 EDT – Democratic Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI) took to the floor to discuss TPA and how amendments could make it even worse. He said of the currency manipulation issue that it’s the weakest kind of cheese … more holes than Swiss cheese – but doesn’t taste as good. He said the Customs bill would make TPA even worse. “This is one of the basis of the feeling of a lot of people in various communities,” he said, encouraging strong opposition to the Customs Bill HR 644 – one of the several reasons he said Members of the House should be voting ‘no’ on the three votes to come. He added, when people come here and say this bill of theirs – TPA – say this will help with job creation, “these are jobs we’ve already lost – nonsense.”
UPDATE 11:58 EDT – Speaker John Boehner takes the floor to stump for the trade deals. Says this deal “is the right thing to do.”
UPDATE 11:52 EDT – The Club for Growth comes out against the trade deals:
The Club for Growth urges all House members to vote ‘NO’ on the bill that reauthorizes Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA). A vote on this is expected today as part of the debate on the Trade Act of 2015 (HR 1314). This vote will be included in the Club for Growth’s 2015 Congressional Scorecard. TAA is a wasteful welfare program that even some supporters have recognized as ineffective. It selectively rewards workers who lose their jobs due to trade (a determination that is itself subjective and tenuous) and discriminates against those who lose their job from market forces unrelated to trade. This makes it a political special interest giveaway. Worst of all, an analysis commissioned by the Labor Department found that the net benefit to society of TAA was a negative $53,802 per participant. Any House member committed to rooting out waste in the federal government should vote “NO” on this proposal. Our Congressional Scorecard for the 114th Congress provides a comprehensive rating of how well or how poorly each member of Congress supports pro-growth, free-market policies and will be distributed to our members and to the public.
UPDATE 11:48 EDT – “Occupy Cleveland” Tweets a list, it says, of undecided Democrats.
UPDATE 11:46 EDT – House begins debate on Trade Enforcement and Customs. Votes expected to begin around 12:45. UPDATE 11:45 EDT – Emma Dumain at Roll Call Tweets:
UPDATE 11:44 EDT – Steve Shaff in the Baltimore Sun calls this trade package “Small businesses’ fast track to ruin.” UPDATE 11:42 EDT – Less than 5 minutes of debate remain.
UPDATE 11:41 EDT – Conservative columnist Michelle Malkin explains “Why America Hates the GOP-Obamatrade Deal.”
UPDATE 11:40 EDT – Dem Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a close ally of Nancy Pelosi, speaks strongly against the trade deals. “We must stop bad trade deals.”
UPDATE 11:38 EDT – Dem Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas announces he’ll vote yes.
UPDATE 11:35 EDT Dem. Rep. Brad Sherman says proponents of Obama’s trade deal “haven’t played it straight.” Citing Nancy Reagan, “When it comes to all three votes today, just vote no.”
UPDATE 11:33 EDT Dem. Rep. David Price urges “support TAA, whether or not you support TPA.”
UPDATE 11:29 EDT – C-SPAN Tweet shows Obama, Pelosi all smiles heading into meeting this morning.
UPDATE 11:21 EDT – Dem Rep. Marcy Kaptur calls trade deal “a great deal for Wall Street,” says it doesn’t protect American people. Urges “No, no, no vote.”
UPDATE 11:19 EDT – Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee urges a no vote on the trade deals:
UPDATE 11:15 EDT – HuffPo’s Jennifer Bendery reports:
UPDATE: 11:08 EDT – Politico’s John Bresnahan writes that Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi is waiting to reveal her position on trade.
UPDATE: 11:07 EDT – Dem Rep. Earl Blumenauer urges yes vote: “This is something we all should support.” UPDATE: 11:05 EDT – President Obama took no questions during his meeting with Democrat members.
UPDATE: 11:03 EDT – The House Whip reports:
Upon conclusion of debate on the Trade Act, the House will debate a Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendments with an Amendment to H.R. 644, Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act. At approximately 12:40-1:10 p.m., we will have our first and only vote series of the day on the two questions of the Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 1314 – Trade Act of 2015, as well as the Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendments with an Amendment to H.R. 644 – Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act **REMINDER: We will be having THREE votes on the trade package in this series. The first vote will be on TAA, second vote on TPA, and third vote on Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (Customs)**
UPDATE 11:01 EDT – Dem Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney is a strong no vote on trade. On Facebook he writes:
Today, Speaker Boehner is bringing Trade Adjustment Assistance and Fast Track to the House floor for a vote. This bait-and-switch arrangement promises to help workers who have lost their jobs in previous bad trade agreements – but only if the Congress agrees to fast track yet another job-killing trade deal. I will vote against TAA and the other trade deals that do nothing but hurt working families in the Hudson Valley. I urge my friends and neighbors throughout the country to call their members of Congress and ask them to join me in sticking up for American workers by voting against TPA and TAA.
UPDATE 10:59 EDT – Jonathan Weisman at the New York Times writes that the trade agreements will hinge on Republican votes.
UPDATE 10:58 EDT – One freshman Dem wasn’t swayed by President Obama.
UPDATE: 10:57 EDT – House reconvenes for another half-hour or so of debate. UPDATE: 10:55 EDT – The House is expected to reconvene in a few minutes. Rep. Kevin Yoder says he’ll vote no.
UPDATE: 10:53 EDT – Even President Obama doesn’t sound overwhelmingly confident.
UPDATE: 10:51 EDT – At least one Dem will vote no despite Obama’s arm-twisting.
UPDATE: 10:47 EDT – President Obama’s meeting is over. The House will resume debate in a few minutes.
UPDATE: 10:45 EDT – The House remains in recess, as leaders on both sides lobby members. President Obama is meeting with reluctant Dems. C-SPAN reports there will be a 15-minute warning before any vote.
UPDATE: 10:40 EDT – Chad Pergram of FOX notes:
UPDATE: 10:20 EDT – Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, tells Breitbart News Congress should not give President Obama Trade Promotion Authority. “Obama’s previous lawlessness on a range of issues should not be rewarded with expanded executive authority,” she says. Martin also wrote an op-ed for The Hill. “[U]nlike the fiasco that was consideration of Obamacare, this time the House Republican leadership is fully engaged as willing co-conspirators, scrambling this week to schedule a fast-track vote for the first part of a series of President Obama’s large-scale trade deals,” she notes.
UPDATE: 10:12 EDT – AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka weighs in against the trade deal. “Members of Congress have an important decision to make today when they cast their votes on Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). They have the opportunity to stand up for the working people who voted them into office, and not cave to the corporate interests that have far too much influence on the American economy.” UPDATE 10:00 EDT – Representatives have nothing on their schedule today except trade. Later this morning, they are scheduled to hold three votes. The first vote will be on Trade Adjustment Assistance, the second would be on on Trade Promotion Authority, and the third vote on the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act. These measures have already been passed by the Senate.
UPDATE: 9:53 – At the New York Times, Jonathan Weisman previews President Obama’s message to reluctant Dems:
UPDATE: 9:50 – Rep. Paul Ryan is a staunch supporter of passing President Obama’s trade bills. On the House floor today, he made his best pitch.
“[T]he world is watching. If we don’t do this, we will send a signal to the world that America is not reliable. But if we do establish TPA, we will show the world that America is once again taking the lead,” Ryan said. Read his complete statement.
UPDATE: 9:44 – The House goes into recess. It will return for more debate after President Obama meets with Democrat members.
President Obama is meeting with Democrats on the Hill this morning. Most of the caucus will oppose his trade agreements, but he needs to try to drum up enough support to squeeze the bills through with Republican support.
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