Sat, May 25, 2002 page21

• Senate hands Bush `fast track'

  A WIN The US president received a major victory with the passage of a trade bill that backers say will create jobs for Americans but critics say will move jobs abroad

  • AP
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  The Senate handed a major victory to US President George W. Bush with passage of a trade bill that supporters said could mean millions of jobs for Americans.

  Still ahead before the measure gets to the president's desk were tough negotiations with a deeply divided House.

  "This is the most forward-looking and most significant trade legislation passed in the Senate in at least 15 years," said Senator Max Baucus, chief sponsor with Senator Charles Grassley.

  The legislation, which passed Thursday evening by a convincing 66-30 vote after three weeks of debate, gives the president the authority to negotiate new trade agreements that Congress must vote on but not change.

  Bush says he needs this "fast-track" authority, lapsed since 1994, to ensure US leadership in WTO trade liberalization talks and efforts to establish a Western Hemisphere free-trade zone.

  Negotiating authority, Bush said in praising the Senate action, "will give me the flexibility I need to secure the greatest possible trade opportunities for American workers, consumers, families and farmers."

  He pressed House and Senate negotiators to move quickly to resolve differences, because every day without the authority "is another day the American people are deprived of the benefits of trade."

  Senator Phil Gramm said it was a "red-letter day for George Bush," giving him one of the biggest legislative victories of his presidency. "Millions of Americans will obtain jobs, and good jobs, because of trade promotion authority," he said.

  Disputing that forecast was Senator Byron Dorgan, who said free trade without protections fosters the loss of jobs to countries with cheap labor and poor environmental standards.

  Senators "talk about how wonderful this is for this country, and none of them will have their jobs move to Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Mexico or anywhere else," he said.

  In the last vote before passage, the Senate accepted an amendment by Senator Paul Wellstone to make human rights and democracy principal negotiating objectives of future trade talks. Other objectives include lowering trade barriers for intellectual property, electronic commerce and agriculture and promoting labor rights and the environment.

  The Senate bill, at the insistence of Democrats, also expands a program to help workers who lose their jobs because of trade, making more Americans eligible and providing a subsidy to pay for 70 percent of their health-care costs.

  It renews an expired program to give low tariffs to the Andean nations of Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.

  The level of worker benefits in the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, expected to cost as much as US$12 billion over 10 years, is certain to be a sticking point in House-Senate talks to reconcile differences. Many Republicans bristle at what they say is the creation of new federal entitlements.

  "We do have a few barnacles on this that I'm sure will be sheared off in conference," said the Senate Republican leader, Trent Lott.

  The House bill, which contains no worker benefit language, passed in December by a 215-214 vote.

  Democrats, unhappy with language about worker rights and environmental protections in future trade agreements, voted overwhelmingly against it.

  Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas said he was ready to begin talks immediately so the bill can be signed into law before July 4.

  Supporters of trade authority point to more than 130 free-trade agreements made around the world since the president lost the authority in 1994, while the US has only three such accords -- NAFTA, with Canada and Mexico, and separate pacts with Israel and Jordan.

  "We are losing more than US$2 million a day in sales to Chile -- our 33rd largest export market -- because other countries have negotiated free-trade agreements there and we have not," said National Association of Manufacturers President Jerry Jasinowski.

  For your information

  Trade authority

  ■ Gives the president the authority to negotiate international trade agreements subject to a single yes or no vote by Congress, without amendments. ■ Sets overall negotiating objectives, including to: reduce trade barriers, strengthen dispute settlement procedures, promote respect for worker rights and protect and preserve the environment. ■ Sets principal negotiating objectives to eliminate or reduce tariffs and barriers that decrease market opportunities for US companies, specifically for the service industry, intellectual property, electronic commerce, agriculture and textiles. ■ Promoting anti-corruption and transparency are also principal objectives. ■ Requires consultations with relevant congressional committees both before and during negotiations. ■ Extends benefits when a US manufacturing plant moves outside the country. Graphic: TT
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