Jobs, trade, China currency

This week should be one of the busiest in the 112th Congress, as lawmakers will debate President Obama’s jobs bill, three long-stalled trade agreements and legislation on China’s currency.

The jobs package will attract a lot of headlines, although it clearly still lacks the votes to clear the Senate. The big political question is: How many of Obama’s fellow Democrats will reject it?

{mosads}Their leaders in the Senate revamped the bill’s offsets, scrapping Obama’s call for tax hikes on families making $250,000 or more. They replaced it with a millionaire surtax of 5.6 percent, with which Obama said he is “comfortable.”

Yet some centrist Democrats facing tough reelection campaigns in what appears to be an especially difficult 2012 cycle have not publicly committed to voting for the bill. Senate Republicans, by and large, are expected to vote no. 

Obama and congressional Republicans, however, do agree on something: trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia. The House is expected to pass all three pacts this week in votes that will split the Democratic Caucus. 

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has put White House officials on notice that she will not help round up votes for it. As Speaker during George W. Bush’s administration, Pelosi torpedoed the Colombia deal.

The trade deals are expected to pass the upper chamber, where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has agreed to schedule votes for them even though he is not fond of trade pacts. 

Congressional Democrats believe they have the upper hand on legislation that would levy tariffs on exports from China if Beijing keeps its currency valued at a level deemed too low. 

The bipartisan bill is poised to clear the Senate, but in the House, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has called it “dangerous.” Obama has expressed concerns with the measure but stopped short of saying he opposes it. 

Senate Democrats plan to pass it soon and then rip House GOP leaders for blocking a measure that attracted the backing of 99 House Republicans in 2010.

Anxious Republican lawmakers, well aware that China-bashing plays well in election years, have told The Hill they would sign a discharge petition if Obama vows to sign the currency bill into law. A discharge petition forces legislation to the floor if it collects 218 signatures. It now has 176 backers, all Democrats. 

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), whose support has dwindled in opinion polls, will have an opportunity this week to recapture lost momentum in the Republican presidential primary.

Bloomberg TV and The Washington Post on Tuesday will host a presidential debate in New Hampshire. Perry and the other White House hopefuls will direct their fire at former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), who holds a commanding lead in that state.