Naming names helped Obama get fast-track trade authority back on track in less than 24 hours [View all]

[Cali_Democrat]

The White House named names. And not 24 hours later, President Barack Obama and his aides had a deal to get fast-track back on track.

After resistant Democrats scuttled a vote Tuesday to move forward on one of Obama’s signature goals — authority to negotiate details of an upcoming Pacific trade pact — the president called resistant Democrats to the White House. Then his aides took the unusual step of releasing a list of which senators attended

Democrats on Capitol Hill say the agreement they reached the next day to move forward on the legislation extracted real concessions from Republican leadership. But in the end, the dramatic gesture of voting against their own president got Democrats little beyond delaying the vote to open debate on Obama’s trade agenda to Thursday, instead of Tuesday.

What they won: a vote on a customs enforcement package that includes a measure on Chinese currency manipulation. But it’s unlikely to ever become law, in part because Obama would probably veto it if it ever got to his desk. Democrats dropped their demands that the customs and currency package hitch a ride with fast-track.


http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/obama-trans-pacific-partnership-trade-deal-117921.html?hp=lc3_4_b1