Senator vows to stay as long as it takes for fast-track trade bill

Published 05/18/2015, 07:46 PM
© Reuters. Senator Hatch heads to the Senate floor for a cloture vote on Capitol Hill  in Washington

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said on Monday he is prepared to stay as long as necessary to pass legislation key to a Pacific trade pact before lawmakers go on a break at the end of this week.

Hatch, a Republican, said there is no reason for debate to drag on, despite potentially dozens of amendments to legislation to streamline the passage of trade deals through Congress.

Approval of the bill, which must also pass the House of Representatives, would give momentum to negotiations on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership.

"I'm here as long as it takes to pass it," Hatch told reporters of the so-called "fast-track" legislation, which would restrict Congress to a yes-or-no vote on trade deals. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, expects the bill to pass this week.

But Hatch was concerned about a "killer" amendment to the bill which would potentially bar countries deemed soft on human trafficking from the expedited treatment, and was looking to the Obama administration for a solution.

TOP partner Malaysia is on the U.S. 2014 list of human-trafficking offenders.

The White House has said it is looking at the amendment, drafted by Democratic Senator Robert Menendez. A spokesman for Menendez, who plans a news conference on Tuesday, said negotiations were continuing over the wording of the amendment.

Another sticking point in the Senate will be a push to include tough rules against currency manipulators in the fast-track bill, which the Obama administration has warned could derail the TPP.

The trade debate has put President Barack Obama at odds with many of his Democratic colleagues, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leading left-wing voice.

Warren's office circulated a report on Monday criticizing successive U.S. administrations for "broken promises" on trade deals' role in forcing trading partners to uphold high labor, environmental, and human rights standards, echoing complaints made by unions and consumer groups.

Some U.S. free-trade deal partners are identified by the Department of Labor as using child labor or forced labor and illegal logging remains a problem in Peru, the report said.

© Reuters. Senator Hatch heads to the Senate floor for a cloture vote on Capitol Hill  in Washington

The U.S. Trade Representative says the Obama administration is the first to trigger a dispute settlement procedure in trade deals over labor rights violations - against Guatemala - and has defended labor rights in countries including Bahrain, Colombia and Jordan.

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