Trade bill survives scare

Cristina Marcos
The Hill
6/11/2015

President Obama’s trade agenda survived a bad scare in the House on Thursday when the GOP rule governing debate for the package narrowly survived a 217-212 vote.

Thirty-four Republicans voted against the rule, while eight Democrats backed it…

…House Republicans could only lose 26 of their own for the rule to pass without help from Democrats. Had the rule failed, the House would not have been able to debate and vote on the trade bills.

The eight Democrats who saved the trade package were Reps. Earl Blumenauer (Ore.), Gerry Connolly (Va.), Jim Cooper (Tenn.), Henry Cuellar (Texas), John Delaney (Md.), Eddie Bernice Johnson (Texas), Ron Kind (Wis.) and Rick Larsen (Wash.)…

The complete article is at The Hill.

Also at the site,  Bill would require trade deals to be publicly available before fast-track vote  (video)

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is calling for a change to House rules to require the administration to make all trade deals publicly available for 60 days before they could be approved using fast-track authority.

The resolution, titled the Trade Review Accountability Needs Sunlight and Preview of Any Regulations and Exact Negotiated Components, was introduced by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio)…

h/t Congressman Thomas Massie who voted “No” and who posted the Roll Call.

Related:  Expert’s Warning to America on Trade Deal: ‘This Is a Real Problem. It’s Not a Hypothetical’

…”There are already visa policies in place from previous trade policies that Congress can’t touch unless it kills the entire trade program,” Mark Krikorian, executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies think tank, told TheBlaze.

…Krikorian said [Rep. Paul] Ryan’s proposal doesn’t calm his concerns, because Ryan has never sought to decrease immigration. He explained the Trade in Services Agreement would prohibit in-person interviews of visa applicants and limit the amount of time for processing visas.

TiSA, as the proposed trade agreement is known, would be between 24 nations, including the United States and European Union countries, with the aim of opening health care and banking commerce. Documents concerning the deal first became public on WikiLeaks last year, and additional documents followed…