Senate Republicans urge Obama to push for trade in SOTU

Senate Republicans urged President Obama to make completion of an ambitious trade agenda the centerpiece of his Tuesday night address to Congress.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) told reporters ahead of the evening’s State of the Union address that there is a great opportunity for Republicans and Democrats to work together to boost exports and open up foreign markets to U.S. goods. 

Portman urged the president to talk about the economic benefits of trade while pressing his own party to back his agenda, which includes trade promotion authority and the ongoing negotiations with the European Union and 11 other nations ranging from Latin America to the Asia-Pacific region. 

{mosads}Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reiterated on Tuesday that passing trade promotion authority, also known as fast-track, could be done soon and on a bipartisan basis. 

Portman called passing trade promotion authority and, in turn the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) as the keys to getting the U.S. economy “truly moving.”

“This is a great example of what we can do together,” he said.

The president recently tasked his Cabinet to call House Democrats who have signaled a willingness to back the trade agenda in the hopes of creating more support from within his own party. 

Negotiators have said that the TPP is nearing the finish line and the aim is to complete a U.S.-EU deal before Obama leaves office. 

Portman, a former U.S. Trade Representative, said the United States must be aggressive in pursuing global trade agreements, especially while other countries stake out their own global trading territory. 

Central to the push is passing trade promotion authority, which is backed by the White House and some congressional Democrats and Republicans. 

Many Democrats oppose giving the president fast-track, which would allow for Congress to take an up or down vote on the trade deals, because what they say is a lack of transparency on the contents of the trade agreements. 

A group of House Democrats continue to argue that trade agreements will continue to hurt U.S. workers and lead to even wider income gaps between the middle class and the nation’s biggest earners. 

Earlier on Tuesday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said he wants to move quickly on trade promotion authority while working in consultation with panel Democrats and House leaders.