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As his trade agenda hangs in the balance, President Obama called meetings Wednesday with Democrats who are trying to revive a key part of a landmark agreement with Asian countries.
Meanwhile,
Republican leaders in Congress — House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio,
and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. — pledged new votes on
trade and workers' aid provisions so that they can be "sent to the
President for signature."
The Boehner-McConnell statement and the
White House talks came less than a week after other Democrats voted to
block a major provision of the president's trade plan.
"As part of
the Administration's ongoing outreach on trade, the President will hold
meetings today at the White House with pro-trade Democrats in the
Senate and the House," the White House said in a statement Wednesday.
Obama
aides provided no details on the guest list or the substance of the
talks, which took place right before the annual congressional picnic on
the White House grounds.
Last week, enough House Democrats voted
to oppose Obama and defeat a bill to provide aid to U.S. workers
displaced by trade agreements.
The full House, with Republican backing, did approve a bill for Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), giving the Obama administration the right to negotiate a final agreement for an up-or-down vote in Congress without amendments.
Given
those conflicting votes, Obama and other Democrats who support the
entire trade package are looking to restore the workers' assistance
package, known as Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA).
"The
one thing that we have been clear about is that the only legislative
strategy that the president will support is a strategy that results in
both TPA and TAA coming to his desk," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
Other Democrats are working to defeat the overall trade bill — the Trans-Pacific Partnership — by saying that free trade ships U.S. manufacturing jobs overseas
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