Congress gets closer to fast-tracking Obama’s trade deal

Obama’s predecessors, including George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, have enjoyed Trade Promotion Authority, also known as “fast track,” which allowed them to negotiate a number of trade deals. But the authority expired in 2007, and Obama has struggled to get it renewed by Congress.

The White House says that fast track is needed to get trade deals done because other countries will be reluctant to bargain knowing that Congress might try to modify a deal after it has been negotiated.

Of course, many fast track opponents don’t want the negotiations to succeed. They’ve argued that the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, currently being hammered out by countries such as the United States, Japan, Chile, and Vietnam, would benefit big companies at the expense of ordinary workers.

Fast track enjoys fairly broad support among Republicans, but is opposed by many Democrats. Wyden, the senior Democrat of the Senate Finance Committee, is widely respected by Democrats, and Republican leaders have said they won’t be able to get a deal passed without Wyden’s support.

The key concession that earned Wyden’s support is a new provision allowing Congress to withdraw the president’s fast track authority if trade negotiations are not proceeding to Congress’s satisfaction.

“I can’t figure out what this accomplishes,” says Simon Lester, a trade analyst at the Cato Institute, of this new provision. He points out that Congress has ultimate authority over whether to approve or reject trade deals anyway, so a Congress dissatisfied with a trade deal negotiated by the president can simply vote it down.

And the compromise hasn’t won over some fast track critics. Rep. Sandy Levin (D-MI), for example, has blasted the deal as “a major step back.”

Correction: This article originally described Wyden as the chairman of the Finance Committee, but with the Republicans now in the majority he’s just the senior Democrat.