Anti-TPP Groups Push Clinton to Lobby Against Fast-Track

By Vicki Needham, The Hill

20 June 15

nti-trade groups are calling on Hillary Clinton to put the power of her massive presidential campaign behind killing fast-track trade authority.

The 2016 Democratic hopeful, who has been gradually reshaping her message on trade, said in a Thursday interview that if she was still in the Senate, she would vote against trade promotion authority, also known as fast-track.

Neil Sroka, communications director for Democracy for America, told The Hill his group “took it as really big news that she would vote against fast-track.”

But the real question is on whether she will campaign to stop it with the Senate set to take up the fast-track measure again next week, Sroka said.

Sroka argued Clinton could start by asking her supporters to call Senate offices and ask lawmakers to vote “no” in the lead-up to a Tuesday vote.

"That will be what is needed if she's against fast-track," he said.

Passage in the Senate, which is by no means guaranteed, sends the bill to the president’s desk for his signature.

Clinton’s comments, although still a bit murky on where she stands on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, signals a break from President Obama, who has been urging Congress to give him the ability to negotiate and complete global trade agreements.

“I certainly would not vote for it unless I was absolutely confident that we would get Trade Adjustment Assistance,” Clinton said during an interview with Jon Ralston on Ralston Reports.

Other groups that have been fighting against fast-track said Clinton’s move to oppose fast-track provides a boost to their exhaustive efforts.

"Secretary Clinton's opposition to TPA combined with strong opposition from Leader Reid and Sens. [Dick] Durbin, [Charles] Schumer, [Bernie] Sanders and [Elizabeth] Warren eliminate any political fig leaves Democrats voting for fast-track hoped to have,” said Rick Manning, president of Americans for Limited Government.

“What's more, President Obama's stated willingness to sign a fast-track bill prior to the passage of Trade Adjustment Assistance should send shivers down the spines of any Senate Democrat,” Manning said.

Jason Stanford, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Fast Track, said the deal-making within Congress to get fast-track done has gone from bad to worse.

“To get it past Republicans, they had to throw climate change, immigration, human trafficking, and currency manipulation under the bus, and now we're just supposed to trust [Mitch] McConnell and [John] Boehner that everything's going to work out great in the end,” Stanford told The Hill in an email.

“No wonder Hillary Clinton says she'd vote against this mess,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) tried to quell concerns this week among pro-trade Democrats that they will provide the support needed to send the trade bills to Obama’s desk.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee said that “if Hillary Clinton thinks the Senate should vote against TPA, that is good news.”

“America's workers hope senators like Mark Warner, Maria Cantwell, Patty Murray, Ron Wyden, and Heidi Heitkamp, will vote against fast-track for this secret, corporate-written trade deal, especially if it lacks worker adjustment protections,” the PCCC told The Hill.

Republicans and Democrats have criticized Clinton for failing to take a defined stance on trade, especially after she touted the benefits of the TPP during her tenure as secretary of State.

Clinton said last month in Iowa that she wanted to see a completed TPP before she would announce her support or opposition.