TPP: Obama is given fast track trade authority
President Obama took part in a panel discussion on free trade, broadcast on MSNBC on Tuesday. (Photo: White House)
(VOVworld)- In a move to push the finalization of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, the US House Committee on Ways and Means on Thursday passed the bill on Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), the so-called fast track trade authority, to US President Barack Obama.
After lively debate between Democratic and Republican lawmakers, House Ways and Means Committee voted 25-13 in favor of legislation to fast-track approval and only 2 of 15 Democratic members of Congress agreed on the bill. The US Senate Finance Committee had also approved the fast-track bill on Wednesday and said it would be voted on at the US Congress in the next few weeks. In both committees, the Democratics have failed to pile on pressure to beef up the rules against currency manipulation in a separate bill accompanying the fast-track legislation.
The TPA will allow the Obama administration to push forward with the finalization of TPP negotiations and other free-trade agreements.