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On the heels of a $2.1 trillion deficit deal, Senate leaders said Wednesday night that they reached agreement on moving forward with three long-stalled free-trade agreements.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) agreed to hold votes on trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama after Congress returns from its summer recess in early September.
Under the agreement, the Senate would first take up a separate Trade Adjustment Assistance bill, extending aid to unemployed workers who have been hurt by free trade.
Both U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) expressed support for the deal.
Months of bipartisan discussions “have provided a path forward in the Senate after we return for passage of the bipartisan compromise on the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, followed by passage of the three FTAs,” Reid said in a statement.
“I do not support movement on the FTAs, which I have never supported, until TAA has passed.”
McConnell said he personally did not back the worker-aid program but acknowledged there was bipartisan support for it. And he said he has been an ardent backer of the long-delayed trade agreements, which were negotiated during the George W. Bush administration.
“I know that I speak for many on my side of the aisle that we are eager to get moving and finally pass them,” McConnell said.
Boehner praised the deal, saying the Senate leaders had “cleared an important hurdle.”
“Expanding markets for U.S. small businesses is a critical component of the Republican plan for America’s job creators, and further delay of these job-creating trade bills is unacceptable,” Boehner said in a statement. “I look forward to the House passing the FTAs, in tandem with separate consideration of TAA legislation, as soon as possible.”
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By: Scott Wong
Source: Politico.com, Aug. 4, 2011
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