Slow Lane For 'Fast Track'

It'll be some time next year before the Senate considers legislation that would give the president greater authority to negotiate global trade deals.

After winning by just one vote in the House on Thursday, President Bush urged the Senate to act quickly.

"Trade promotion authority will give me the flexibility I need to secure the greatest possible trade opportunities for America's farmers, workers, families and consumers," Mr. Bush said in a statement welcoming the House vote. "Now that the House has acted, I urge the Senate to move quickly."

But Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said the bill would take its place in line behind such other pressing issues as energy and stem-cell research.

Daschle, D-S.D., has said he has no plans to bring up the measure this year and any bill that emerges from the Senate is likely to give more weight to the Democratic priorities of ensuring that labor rights and the environment are protected in future trade deals.

Thursday's 215-214 vote in favor of trade promotion authority came after a frantic last-minute effort by GOP leaders to capture the last recalcitrant Republican votes with pledges of help for local industries and appeals to back the president at a time of national crisis.

"This Congress will either support our president who is fighting a courageous war on terrorism and redefining American world leadership or it will undercut the president at the worst possible time," said House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., at the close of the debate.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who led Democrats in opposing the bill, bristled at the comparison. "For us to stand up for what we know is morally and legislatively right, is that undercutting the president of the United States?"

Trade promotion authority, formerly known as "fast track," allows the president to negotiate trade deals that Congress can approve or reject but cannot change. The White House says that authority, which Congress refused to give President Clinton, is essential if the United States is to be a serious participant in a new round of global trade talks to start next month.

Senate Democrats, though, are in no rush.

"Those who bring it here should expect that every hurdle that is possible will be put in its path," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.

But for the moment, House Republicans were elated. "Trade promotion authority is one of the most powerful tools that we can have to strengthen our economic security," said Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, the House's third-ranked Republican.

Thomas, working with three moderate Democrats, did include language that makes labor, the environment and health and safety concerns prime objectives of future negotiations. The bill also gives Congress a more prominent consultative role in trade talks, but most Democrats said he didn't go far enough.

Still short of votes, House GOP leaders on Wednesday endorsed spending at least $20 billion to help workers laid off as a result of the recession and the Sept. 11 attacks. Earlier Thursday, the House, on a 420-3 vote, expanded benefits under a program that assists workers displaced by imports.

But a group of pro-trade Democrats, despite intense lobbying by the Republican leadership and Cabinet officials, agreed Thursday that they would not vote for trade promotion authority before the House considered a worker relief package.

In the end the GOP leadership had to persuade Republican holdouts, several from textile states in the South, to stand behind their president.

Hastert, DeLay and Majority Leader Dick Armey wrote a letter to Rep. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who switched his vote from no to yes only after getting their pledge that existing trade laws to prevent illegal textile imports would be strengthened.

Rep. Robin Hayes, R-N.C., who cast a late vote for the bill, had earlier said he would vote against it. In an interview he said changed his mind after the White House met his terms on textiles, including a stand against quota reductions for Pakistan, a key ally in the war against terrorism. "What we've done today is provide more jobs for textile workers," he said.

Thomas also included language to assure fair treatment for Florida's $9 billion citrus industry. But Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., despite heavy lobbying from the president and others, voted against the bill. "I voted 'no' today because I made a promise to my farmers that I wouldn't leave them behind."

Twenty-three Republicans voted against the legislation, while 21 Democrats backed it.

©MMI, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press and Reuters Limited contributed to this report