WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders scrambled Tuesday to assess the fallout from the defeat of Vietnam trade legislation, which could mark a mood swing in Congress against President Bush’s trade agenda.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including 94 Democrats and 66 Republicans, voted against the legislation Monday night, stunning Republican leaders who thought they had the votes to put the bill on the “suspension” calendar for expedited consideration and limited debate.
The fate of the trade bill is now up in the air.
“The Vietnam trade measure, despite having a majority support in the House, did not garner the two-thirds vote needed to pass on the suspension calendar,” Kevin Madden, press secretary for Majority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) said in a statement. “The measure will not be brought up this week via regular order. We expect the bill will be revisited sometime prior to adjournment this year.”
The announcement was a setback for President Bush, who had hoped to have Congressional approval of the legislation before he arrives in Hanoi to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum on Friday.
Democrats seized control of the next House and Senate in the midterm elections last week and many trade experts saw the bill’s defeat as a harbinger of troubled times on the trade front when the party takes control next year. The size of the opposition from Democrats was notable, particularly since two of the presumptive House Democratic leaders voted for the bill, including Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), expected to be Speaker, and Charles Rangel (N.Y.), in line to become Ways & Means Committee chairman.
Several textile-state lawmakers, who had pressed the administration to strengthen a protective quota mechanism aimed at imports from Vietnam, voted against the bill.
Most trade veterans said the stumble the bill took on Monday portends tough times ahead for the proponents of free trade and foreign market expansion.
“It was a bit of an embarrassment [for the GOP] but I’m not sure the outgoing Republican leadership cares all that much at this point,” said Erik Autor, vice president and international trade counsel for the National Retail Federation.
Autor said one factor contributing to the bill’s failure in the first vote was that 43 House members were absent. Autor also said concerns about religious freedom in Vietnam could have been a factor, as well as opposition from textile-state lawmakers, who have been stung by pro-trade votes and faced close Congressional races as a result.
Related Articles
You May Also Like
“Republicans don’t want to be seen as the Pollyanish party,” particularly with the 2008 presidential elections in their sights, said Tim Kane, director of the Center for International Trade & Economics at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington. “This didn’t pass as smoothly under the current leadership as it should have because the current leadership has a ticket out of town, some of them permanently.”
An American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition spokesman said the administration failed to adequately consult with House textile members.