Long Odds Ahead Now for Obama on His Troubled Trade Agenda

[Purveyor]

WASHINGTON — Jun 13, 2015, 11:03 AM ET
By ERICA WERNER Associated Press
Associated Press

The White House and Republican leaders in Congress face long odds in trying to revive trade legislation after a telling defeat engineered by President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats.

Obama's ambitious trade agenda is in serious doubt, as is his quest for a capstone second-term achievement.

Without the power to negotiate trade deals that Congress can approve or reject, but not amend, Obama has little chance of securing the Pacific Rim pact that his administration has worked toward for years.

Friday's rebuff highlighted the strained relations between Obama and congressional Democrats, who voted down a worker assistance program crucial to the negotiating authority measure just hours after the president implored them not to.

Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, had worked in rare tandem on this issue, yet their inability to deliver raises the question of whether much else will get done with Republicans running Congress and Obama in the White House for the next 18 months.

more...

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trade-bill-faces-dim-future-democrats-thwart-obama-31738164

[djean111]

1. To be honest, I think we are being set up. Hope I am wrong, but I feel like I am going

to wake up one morning next week and find that the whole mess was passed, under a picture of Obama and BFF Jamie, grinning and smoking expensive cigars.

[marym625]

2. ouch

That's a nightmare!

[Art_from_Ark]

5. They'll make some "last minute compromises",

add a few spices, grease some palms, and voila! Huge shit sandwich for the 99%!

[Wounded Bear]

3. I'm still skeptical...

It is nice to see Democrats act like real Democrats for a change, but I somehow doubt this is really dead.

The corporate powers that be want it too badly.

[Purveyor]

4. Agreed. We can't relax just quite yet. eom