ConservativeHQ is attacking establishment Republicans as “desperate” for inserting a motion to reconsider the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) that was voted down last week into the rule for considering the 2016 intelligence authorization bill.
Passage of TAA is necessarily in order to get the controversial Trade Promotion Authority, or “fast-track,” to the president’s desk. After their effort thwarted was last week, House Republicans and the White House are seeking to move TAA before the summer, to get the backing that would grant Obama the authority to speed consideration of trade deals through Congress.
According to reports, the rule would allow a re-do vote on the TAA to take place as late as July 30, granting the White House and establishment Republicans time to move more members to yes on the TAA. The vote would otherwise need to take place Tuesday.
“We remain committed to getting TPA done, and this will give the president more time to communicate the consequences of not moving forward with his party,” Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said, according to The Hill.
ConservativeHQ argues that the effort to move Obama’s trade agenda is as much about House Speaker John Boehner as it is about the Democratic divide on trade.
While Speaker Boehner would like to keep the heat on the Democrats to come up with the votes to pass the trade package, and ultimately pass Obama’s secret Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty, this is as much about saving Boehner’s tenuous hold on his own restive House Republican Conference as it is about passing Obamatrade.
Populist conservative Republicans came within a couple of votes of defeating “fast track” and, allied with labor-oriented Democrats, did defeat the TAA bill, which included a sizable tax increase that would hit small businesses especially hard.
The conservative news site further quoted a Breitbart interview with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) in which he called on Republicans to oppose the effort to bring back the TAA, which he and others are calling a tax increase. Paul says:
You know typically to pass these kinds of things, the establishment will try to buy off Democrats by sprinkling money so they have some money in there. To get the money, under our budget rules, we have to pay for it—so they want to pay for it with a fine on small businesses,” Paul said. “But I thought a point that was made in the article which was pretty good is this is similar to the fines they wanted to do in Obamacare with 1099s and there was such an outcry it’s the only part of Obamacare we ever repealed. So I think when people discover they’re sticking a tax increase in there I think people will be even more unhappy.
According to ConservativeHQ, there is an effort to vote down the rule and people should call their representatives to urge them to vote against the rule.
House conservatives have vowed to vote down the Rule. According to reports from inside the Capitol, conservatives are maintaining a constant vigil on the Floor of the House to ensure that Speaker Boehner and Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions do not try to sneak the Rule through on a voice vote or by unanimous consent when no one is on the Floor to oppose it.
We urge CHQ readers to call their Representative to demand he or she vote “NO” on the Rule for H.R. 2596, the Fiscal Year 2016 Intelligence Authorization bill, if it includes the Motion to Reconsider the failed TAA bill. The Capitol Switchboard is 1-866-220-0044 and the vote will likely be today, call NOW!
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