*EPF315 07/11/01
Bush, Zoellick Press House Republicans on Trade Authority Bill
(President makes personal pitch in closed session) (440)
By Bruce Odessey
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- President Bush and his top trade official have stepped up their campaign to pass trade negotiating authority in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

The president addressed House Republicans in a closed session on Capitol Hill July 11, one day after Republican Majority Leader Dick Armey described as "grim" the result of his party's gauge of House support for legislation granting trade promotion authority (TPA), otherwise known as fast track.

Later in a press briefing, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick described the meeting in which he said Bush explained the benefits of negotiating open markets in agriculture, financial services and many other sectors.

Zoellick said Bush and he planned during the day to press for TPA passage in sessions with farmers, small business owners and technology company executives.

House Republican leaders have been trying to round up support for a TPA bill sponsored by Representative Phil Crane, Republican chairman of the Ways and Means trade subcommittee. That bill contains no reference to the labor and environmental provisions deemed crucial by most Democrats and some Republicans.

Representative Doug Bereuter, a Nebraska Republican, told reporters he expected legislation close to the Crane bill could be approved in the Ways and Means Committee and passed by the full House in weeks.

Bereuter said he expected more House Republicans would join to support the bill as the president and administration officials press their arguments. He described Bush's plea for TPA that morning as persuasive and personal.

Zoellick has offered praise for both the Crane bill and a bill introduced by Senators Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat, and Frank Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, that has some language on labor and environment, but he has not committed support to either one.

Senator Max Baucus, Democratic chairman of the Finance Committee, has said the Graham-Murkowski bill does not go far enough to address labor and environment concerns.

Zoellick said at the briefing that he believed some members of Congress expressed legitimate concerns about labor and environmental issues but that others were using the issues as a cover for protectionism.

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

(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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