*EPF311 12/12/2001
Senate Committee Approves Trade Negotiating Authority Bill 18-3
(USTR Zoellick presses for quick passage by full Senate) (590)

By Bruce Odessey
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The Senate Finance Committee has voted overwhelmingly to approve trade promotion authority (TPA), otherwise known as fast track, for the president.

By 18-3, with three Democrats voting against, the committee approved a bill that would give the president broader authority to participate in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations.

The bill would cover agreements reached in trade negotiations completed before June 2005 and allow for a possible two-year extension.

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

The Finance Committee vote came less than a week after the House of Representatives passed its version of TPA 215-214 December 6.

For TPA to become law requires passage of a final bill by the House and Senate and signature by President Bush.

Senate Democratic Majority Leader Tom Daschle has said he did not expect to schedule a vote by the full Senate on TPA until after Congress returns in 2002 from a holiday recess.

Yet a statement issued by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick sought Senate action before the recess.

"We urge the Senate leadership to draw on this bipartisan vote to complete action on TPA by the end of this year," Zoellick said, "demonstrating our common interest in advancing America's economic prospects and world leadership."

Because the Finance Committee approved the bill in a rush to conform with Senate rules over meeting times, Senator Max Baucus, the Democratic chairman, scheduled another committee meeting December 13 to consider further amendments to it.

The Senate Finance bill makes only a few changes to the House-passed bill. Baucus praised the House bill's language on labor and environmental standards.

"The standard set by the U.S.-Jordan FTA [Free Trade Agreement] is essentially enshrined in negotiating objectives," Baucus said.

The U.S.-Jordan agreement prevents either side from weakening its environmental and labor laws in order to increase trade and investment.

The Senate Finance bill also includes a provision concerning problems that have resulted from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) mechanism for settling disputes between foreign investors and states.

That provision aims to avert potential threats to environmental and other national, state and local regulations from dispute-settlement panels over investment issues.

Under NAFTA's Chapter 11, foreign companies have already sued for compensation over a California ban on a toxic gasoline additive, a federal Buy America procurement law and a jury verdict in a Mississippi fraud case. Investors have already brought successful challenges against Mexican and Canadian government decisions.

The Senate Finance bill also aims to prevent weakening of U.S. antidumping and other unfair-trade laws. The U.S. delegation at the November Doha trade ministers' meeting accepted reopening WTO negotiations over such trade rules despite opposition from a majority in the Senate.

"Especially given the dubious results of the recent negotiations in the WTO," Baucus said, "this topic is particularly important."

Baucus said he wants Senate passage of TPA linked to passage of an expanded program for trade adjustment assistance (TAA) for workers who lose their jobs as a result of imports.

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

(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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