Georgia’s U.S. House members were wrestling with a difficult trade vote Thursday, just hours before a series of measures are scheduled to hit the floor with passage far from certain.
U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, a Lithonia Democrat, said he is voting against both bills scheduled to come up Friday — including Democratic-friendly Trade Adjustment Assistance for displaced workers. TAA is designed to ride on Democratic votes, while Trade Promotion Authority depends on Republicans. If both pass, under a convoluted House leadership plan, they would be merged and sent to President Barack Obama for his signature.
The president’s chief of staff and two Cabinet secretaries spoke Thursday at a closed-door House meeting, and they were rebutted by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who urged “no” votes.
“It’s a very intense effort by the administration to win support for its trade initiatives,” Johnson said. “I don’t even think the (2010) health care vote garnered this much attention from the administration to the House.”
Still, Johnson said he is a no because “ultimately the trade deal will result in loss of jobs.”
Atlanta Democrats David Scott and John Lewis have already come out against TPA, but Lewis would not say how he would vote on TAA. U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, an Albany Democrat, would not tip his hand on any vote Thursday.
On the Republican side, U.S. Rep. Rick Allen, a freshman from Evans, said he will continue to field calls from constituents up until he has to press the vote button. The agriculture, business and manufacturing communities are in favor of TPA, he said, while working-class constituents still have bad memories of the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement.
Though he said he still was not totally convinced, Allen did have some positive words for TPA, which would allow the Obama administration alone to negotiate a historically large Pacific trade deal but still allow Congress a vote.
“You get that up-or-down vote at the end of the deal,” Allen said. “And the thing is going to be posted on the Internet for 60 days, so I would assume consciously if you’re going to be doing a trade deal, based on the fact that America is going to be looking at this thing for 60 days, that it’s going to be a good deal for America.”
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, a Pooler Republican, is in favor of TPA, but he said the Georgia delegation’s Republicans are scattered all over the place, depending on the industries in their districts and what they’re hearing back home. A member of the leadership’s whip team, Carter is charged with helping count votes, but even he has no clue what Democrats will do. With Republicans wary of TAA — seeing it as a form of welfare — the first vote Friday will rely on Democrats.
“From what I understand, the unions told them not to vote for it,” Carter said. “That could throw a wrench into the process.”
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