WASHINGTON (AP) – A landmark trade bill that tops President Barack Obama’s second-term agenda faces a showdown vote in the House as Democrats mount a last-ditch effort to kill it.
The outcome was uncertain and the drama intense heading into Friday’s votes. Liberals in the House are defying their own president and turning against a favored program of their own that retrains workers displaced by trade. Killing the program would kill the companion trade bill.
The move caught the GOP off-guard. House Republicans find themselves being asked by their leaders to vote for a worker retraining program that most have long opposed as wasteful. Many were reluctant to do so, leaving the fate of the entire package up in the air.