Schumer says Pacific trade pact may have enough votes to pass the Senate

The expected future leader of Senate Democrats said Tuesday that there is a chance the upper chamber will pass an Asia-Pacific trade agreement this year while acknowledging there is a tougher road in the House.

New York Sen. Charles Schumer said that if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) decides to consider the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) the trade deal may narrowly pass this year. 

{mosads}“I think if he [McConnell] puts it on the floor, it may well get its 51 votes in the Senate even if some Democrats change their views,” Schumer told CNBC’s John Harwood.

“But it’s an iffy question for the House to get a majority in the House,” he said. 

Schumer, who is expected to take the reins from retiring Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada in the next Congress, said McConnell hasn’t consulted him about how he will proceed when Congress returns to Washington for a lame-duck session after the November elections. 

McConnell has said he doesn’t expect to take up the TPP this year. 

But Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has said the TPP could pass during the lame-duck session this year if the Obama administration addresses a handful of Republican concerns, including the length of patent protections for high-tech drugs called biologics. 

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has said that there is not enough support in the House for the TPP deal and has said it is doubtful the pact will come up in the House in the lame-duck. 

President Obama and supportive business groups are urging Congress to ratify the TPP by the end of the year before the next president takes office. 

Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton each oppose the TPP and have turned trade into a toxic issue on the campaign trail, making the already contentious issue even more challenging for congressional lawmakers.