Republican Senate Majority Leader McConnell:
“If we had a Republican president right now, not a single Democrat would vote for Trade Promotion Authority. So what I’ve said to my members, if we want the next Republican president, who we hope will be sworn in less than two years from now, to have a chance to do trade agreements with the rest of the world, this bill is about that president as well as this one.”
WaPo, The Plum Line: Fast Track will empower GOP president, McConnell says
Fast Track is for six years, so if a Republican wins in 2016, no filibusters on trade bills. Good bye Dood-Frank and God knows what else.
Greg Sargent:
But on Fast Track in particular, McConnell — in the course of reassuring Republicans worried about granting Obama vast authority — is basically confirming one element of the left’s concerns: That Fast Track will empower a future GOP president to negotiate terms of a future trade deal with less worry about the ability of Democratic opposition in Congress to stop it. This is a legitimate concern, whatever you think of what it means for Wall Street regulations in particular.
WaPo, The Plum Line: Fast Track will empower GOP president, McConnell says
TPP is a bad deal. Vote it down.