President Barack Obama asked House Democrats on Saturday to reconsider supporting a measure from his trade agenda that would provide assistance to American workers whose jobs are shipped overseas.
"This is the right thing to do," Obama said during his weekly address. "Trade that's fair and free and smart will grow opportunity for our middle class. It will help us restore the dream we share and make sure that every American who works hard has a chance to get ahead."
The president tried all week to garner Democratic support for a trade package that would have extended Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), an aid program for workers who lose their jobs due to trade deals.
The administration says passing TAA is critical to negotiating the secretive international Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.
"Trade Adjustment Assistance provides vital support, like job-training and community college education, to tens of thousands of American workers each year who were hurt by past trade deals ... the House of Representatives has chosen to let it expire in just a few months, leaving as many as 100,000 American workers on their own," Obama said.
Obama even made a rare last-minute trip to Capitol Hill on Friday to shore up support for what is one of his top economic priorities for his time left in office, but was delivered an embarrassing blow by his own party as the House voted overwhelmingly against the TAA, Politico reported.
Democrats recognized that a vote for the TAA was essentially a vote for the TPP, which many oppose on the belief that the trade accord would send more jobs overseas, exacerbate income inequality, undermine key regulations and give corporations the power to sue governments in international courts over lost profits, according to Vox.
The TAA was paired with another controversial measure, Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) - known as "fast-track" authority - which would allow Obama to negotiate trade agreements that would only receive an up-or-down vote in Congress, allowing for no chance to filibuster or introduce amendments.
TPA passed the House on Friday with a close 219 to 211 vote, supported largely by Republicans and a small group of Democrats, but under House rules, it could only succeed if the TAA measure passed as well. The House is expected to hold a second vote next week, according to the Washington Examiner.
"For the sake of those workers, their families, and their communities, I urge those members of Congress who voted against Trade Adjustment Assistance to reconsider, and stand up for American workers," Obama said in his address. "Because these smart new trade deals aren't just about growing our economy and supporting good new American jobs. This is about the kind of country we want to build for our kids and our grandkids. And if I did not think that smart new trade deals were the right thing to do for working families, I wouldn't be fighting for it."
