WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers are looking at alternative ways to fund aid for workers who lose their jobs due to trade, a senior Democrat said on Tuesday, as a vote nears on legislation key to sealing a Pacific trade pact.
Representative Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, said most Democrats were unhappy with extending limits on healthcare funding to offset support for workers displaced by trade.
House Democratic leadership is working with Republicans to find alternative ways to finance the program and had "some success," said Hoyer, who has yet to say whether he plans to support legislation to speed trade deals through Congress.
Reaching a deal on aid for workers is key to hopes for the so-called fast-track legislation, which would allow lawmakers to set negotiating objectives for trade deals but not amend the text of agreements.
Seniors groups wrote to lawmakers on Tuesday to warn against the $700 million cut and said Medicare, which funds healthcare for the elderly, was not a "slush fund."
Limits on Medicare were extended for two years in a 2013 budget deal funneling $22 billion to boost defense and domestic agency programs.
Congressional leaders have already promised support for workers will move in parallel with fast track, in a bid to get more Democrats to support the bill. House Republican leaders have said the debate could be held as early as this week.
Some conservative Republicans also oppose giving more power to the White House and so far only about 20 Democrats, under intense pressure from unions to oppose the measure, have pledged support.
New Jersey Democrat Bill Pascrell, who plans to vote against fast track, said on his calculation there were 14 to 17 votes still needed to ensure passage in the currently 433-member House.
"I'm going to do everything I can to make sure this is defeated," he said on a call with reporters.
Unions, which have strong links to many Democrats, are ramping up their campaign against fast track with new letters to lawmakers and media advertisements.
Business groups, for their part, are lobbying hard to win support for the measure, which they think will help open markets for U.S. exports under trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership with 11 Pacific Rim countries, including Japan.
Randall Stephenson, chairman of the Business Roundtable and chief executive officer of AT&T Inc (N:T), on Monday urged lawmakers to back the bill.