*EPF210 06/26/01
Bipartisan Trade Negotiating Authority Bill Introduced in Senate
(Compromise language on labor, environment attempted) (700)
By Bruce Odessey
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Introduction of a bipartisan bill to extend trade-negotiating authority to the president has won praise from the Bush administration but criticism from a Senate Democratic leader on trade.

Senator Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat, and Senator Frank Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, introduced the bill for trade promotion authority (TPA), or fast track, on June 26.

"The United States can be the leader on trade or we can be the follower," Murkowski said at a press briefing after the two introduced the bill. "We can either shape the global economy or be shaped by it."

On the controversial labor and environmental issues, Graham said the sponsors attempted to fashion a compromise that would win enough support to pass Congress. The bill would state as a U.S. trade negotiating objective that no country should lower labor or environmental standards to attract investment, but it would not mandate a specific negotiated outcome.

Under TPA or fast track, Congress restricts itself only to approve or reject a negotiated trade agreement, within strict time limits and without amendments. The previous grant of TPA expired early in 1994. Since then attempts to reauthorize TPA have failed over labor and environmental issues.

The Graham-Murkowski bill would aim to prevent the president or members of Congress from using TPA procedures to cover add-on measures unrelated to trade. It would allow a parliamentary challenge called a point of order to such a provision -- in the Senate that would mean 41 out of the 100 members could block it.

The bill would cover any agreements reached in Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations or a round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations and possibly agreements now under negotiation with Chile and Singapore.

It would grant trade-negotiating authority through December 2005, allowing extensions through December 2007 and December 2009 if requested by the president and approved by Congress.

"I applaud and thank Senators Graham and Murkowski and their colleagues for introducing legislation today to provide trade promotion authority," U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said in a written statement.

Senator Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who chairs the Finance Committee that would have to approve TPA legislation, said earlier June 26 that the Graham-Murkowski bill needed stronger labor and environmental language in order to pass.

Graham indicated he had the support of other pro-business Democrats in the Senate as well as many Republicans, including Finance Committee members Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Phil Gramm of Texas.

Whether the Senate will even consider a fast track bill in 2001 remains unclear. Senator Tom Daschle, leader of the majority Democrats, has said the legislative agenda is already quite full and spending bills already much delayed. Finance Committee Chairman Baucus has said he would be prepared to wait on TPA until 2002, after Senate consideration of Jordan and Vietnam trade agreements.

Senator Graham said, however, that TPA would likely not be considered by Congress in 2002, an election year, because of its controversies.

Meanwhile, over in the House of Representatives Republican leaders have been attempting to round up support for a fast track bill that makes no mention of labor or environmental issues. Not clear yet was whether that bill, sponsored by Representative Phil Crane, Republican chairman of the Ways and Means trade subcommittee, won enough Republican backers.

USTR Zoellick's statement commended both the Crane and Graham-Murkowski bills for enabling President Bush's trade agenda.

"During the past several months we have made real progress in promoting America's trade interests in Asia, Europe and the Western Hemisphere," Zoellick said. "Wherever I go, whatever progress we make, others ask whether the Congress will join the administration to promote trade.

"We need Congress to grant the president the negotiating authority given to five other presidents," he said. "I will continue to work actively with Congress to rebuild a national consensus for trade to benefit our workers, farmers, families and businesses."

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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