Why are TPP supporters trying to pass it in the lame duck session if it is so great?

[think]

Trans-Pacific Partnership Supporters Pin Hopes on Lame-Duck Vote

By JACKIE CALMES - JUNE 1, 2016

WASHINGTON — The same harsh politics that have spawned obituaries for President Obama’s signature trade agreement between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations could actually help win its ratification in Congress in a lame-duck vote late this year, advocates are hoping.

The cause of free and open trade has not faced such political toxicity in decades, with Donald J. Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders all openly hostile to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the largest regional trade accord in history. But supporters’ seemingly perverse calculation is this: The certainty that Mr. Obama’s successor would abandon the agreement gives new impetus for advocates to begin maneuvering toward a vote before 2017.

That dynamic, along with recent behind-the-scene developments assuaging some fence-sitters’ concerns – on Japanese pork subsidies, Mexican labor rights and financial companies’ data, notably — is keeping hope alive for advocates from the White House to the Republican-controlled Congress, and in pro-trade business and agriculture groups.

“Right now you have a president, a majority leader and a speaker who are all pro-trade,” Mr. Obama’s trade ambassador, Michael B. Froman, said in an interview, reflecting a seize-the-moment recognition of the changed lineup ahead....

Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/02/business/trans-pacific-partnership-supporters-pin-hopes-on-lame-duck-vote.html?_r=0

The top House Democrat on trade opposes the TPP. Should we consider his opinion?

Top House Democrat on trade opposes Trans Pacific Partnership

By Kelsey Snell February 18

It’s official, Sander Levin opposes the Pacific Rim trade agreement.

The top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee announced Thursday that he is adding his name to the growing list of lawmakers opposed to the deal, further highlighting the growing challenge the Obama administration faces in getting Congress to approve the trade pact this year.

Levin (D-Mich.), who represents a manufacturing-heavy district just north of Detroit, did not rule out supporting the Trans Pacific Partnership in the future if changes are made, but he said the deal does not go far enough to protect workers or prevent cheap Chinese auto parts from flooding the U.S. market. Levin said he raised these issues throughout the negotiating process and is disappointed by the final agreement.

“My position has never been no TPP, my position has been we have to address these very major issues that I outlined a year ago,” Levin said Thursday at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor....

Read more:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/02/18/top-house-democrat-on-trade-opposes-trans-pacific-partnership/

[Renew Deal]

1. That's when DADT was repealed

And other good things are accomplished in lame duck sessions. Not saying TPP is good, but lame duck sessions are a good time to get things done, especially if a party loses power.

[pampango]

2. The last I heard Obama was pushing for an early vote but republicans want to wait until

after the election so as not to alienate Trump and his supporters. Of course, the republicans in congress get to control when the vote is taken, if it is taken at all, so Obama is unlikely to get his wish. If congressional republicans thought an early vote was good for their prospects in November, they would hold a vote before the election. They would rather delay it.