WASHINGTON, DC – On Tuesday, a procedural vote in the U.S. Senate to move forward with H.R. 1314, Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) fell eight votes short of the 60 needed. Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) was the only Democrat to vote in favor of the legislation which would allow President Obama to submit trade deals to Congress for approval without amendments.
Yesterday, the Senate was able to work out a bipartisan deal and a second procedural vote was held today which will allow debate to begin on the TPA bill.
“The fate of TPA legislation is far from over as we expect there will be vigorous debate and an open amendment process beginning tonight,” said Ben Mosely, USA Rice’s vice president of government affairs. “Even if the Senate passes the TPA bill, the measure will need to pass the House where they may be as many as 20 votes short of passage.”
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Peter Bachmann (703) 236-1475