WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama poured intense effort into lobbying fellow Democrats on trade. They repudiated him nearly unanimously.
Every Democratic senator except one, Delaware’s Tom Carper, voted against moving forward on legislation Tuesday to award Obama “fast track” authority to negotiate trade deals that can pass Congress without being amended. The vote failed 52-45, falling eight short of the 60 votes needed and dealing a stinging setback to the centerpiece of Obama’s second-term economic agenda, his hopes for a landmark pact with Asian nations.
Although the White House and senators of both parties are already working to revive the legislation, the outcome stunned the Capitol and highlighted Democratic divisions on trade heading into a presidential election year with control of the Senate at stake.