BREAKING: Democrats Defeat Obama’s Trade Deal

by Warner Todd Huston | June 12, 2015 2:15 pm

Looks like this is the official end of the political power of Barack Obama. The Democrats just dealt Obama a blow by refusing to vote for his fast tracked trade deal. In fact, they even just rejected policies they have supported for years!

Clearly Obama has now lost all power to bring his own party into line. Obama’s move to add to his trade powers was totally defeated[1].

House Democrats rebuffed a dramatic personal appeal from President Obama on Friday, torpedoing his ambitious push to expand his trade negotiating power — and, quite likely, his chance to secure a legacy-defining trade accord spanning the Pacific Ocean.

In a remarkable rejection of a president they have resolutely backed, House Democrats voted to kill assistance to workers displaced by global trade, a program their party created and has stood by for four decades. By doing so, they brought down legislation granting the president trade promotion authority — the power to negotiate trade deals that cannot be amended or filibustered by Congress — before it could even come to a final vote.

“We want a better deal for America’s workers,” said Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House minority leader who has guided the president’s agenda for two terms and was personally lobbied by Mr. Obama until the last minute.

Republican leaders tried to muster support from their own party for trade adjustment assistance, a program they have long derided as an ineffective waste of money and sop to organized labor. But not enough Republicans were willing to save the program.

Utter failure… and it’s a good thing!

Endnotes:
  1. Obama’s move to add to his trade powers was totally defeated: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/13/us/politics/obamas-trade-bills-face-tough-battle-against-house-democrats.html?_r=0

Source URL: https://rightwingnews.com/democrats/breaking-democrats-defeat-obamas-trade-deal/