House Passes TPA Bill

[MineralMan]

4. It was never dead. They just shed the TAA

part. Now, the Senate will vote on the House version. They'll probably pass it, too.

Trade agreements tend to get passed. The problem is that we need trade agreements. It's what's in them that causes all the problems. They're all a process of negotiated compromises between multiple countries. That's where the trouble lies. Nobody gets everything they want, so nobody's ever really satisfied.

Still, trade agreements are a necessary evil, so they tend to get passed in Congress. We can't dictate what's in them unilaterally, since they are the product of multinational negotiations. All trade agreements have issues that affect things in negative ways for all parties. The TPP is no exception. The TPA lets the TPP reach some sort of final form. At that point, Congress will vote whether or not to accept it, but won't be able to tack on a bunch of amendments.

The TPA passed. Fast Track is how these multinational agreements get done, unfortunately. They can't be completed without Fast Track authority, really.

Now, I'm going to duck and cover. Incoming!