GOP plans to fast-track TPP agreement if they win majority in November

[n2doc]

Republicans are putting together an agenda for the first 100 days of 2015 in case they win control of the Senate.

Authorizing the Keystone XL oil pipeline, approving “fast-track” trade authority, wiping out proposed environmental regulations and repealing the medical device tax top their list.

“Those would all be positive things. You could come up with a list of very positive things and all of us are thinking about those,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who is poised to become chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee under a GOP takeover.
Other Republicans echoed Corker.

“Those are four things that could happen that I believe would be great for the economy and enable us to move forward on a bipartisan basis,” Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said during a Thursday breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor.


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http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/217518-senate-gops-first-100-days

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. They Must Be Stopped. n/t

[WillyT]

2. K & R !!!

[Sopkoviak]

3. So now they're willing to work with Obama on some of his things then?

WASHINGTON — For companies like General Electric and Honeywell, it would help open untapped global markets, lift exports and create middle-class American jobs. For labor groups like the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the Teamsters, it is a threat to American workers, bound to lead to lost jobs and lower wages, as well as rising corporate profits.

At issue is the so-called fast-track trade approval, a green light from Congress for the Obama administration to complete two sweeping trade deals, one with Pacific Rim countries and the other with Europe.

President Obama, supported by many Republicans and business groups, has asked for fast-track approval to ease the eventual passage of his trade deals, which he argues would provide a shot in the arm for the economy.

But he has run into staunch opposition from members of his own party, as well as labor and environmental groups. They fear a further loss of jobs to the forces of globalization and technological change and inadequate protections against environmental damage.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/business/reid-pushes-back-on-fast-track-trade-authority.html?_r=0