Congress

Democrats Claim Victory Over “Secret” Trade Deal, Fold 24 Hours Later

Less than 24 hours after a group of Senate Democrats and liberal activists declared victory over President Obama after successfully filibustering the diabolical "secret" trade deal, otherwise known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Senate leadership has reached a compromise on a path forward.

The Senate will vote at noon Thursday on a stand-alone customs and enforcement bill that includes currency manipulation language and a stand-alone package of trade preferences for sub-Saharan Africa, according to a Senate aide. Both measures will require 60 votes to pass. [...]

After the Senate votes on the customs and Africa trade measures, Democrats have agreed to begin debate on a package consisting of TPA and TAA. It would be subject to an open-amendment process, giving senators broad opportunity to vote on changes.

To make a long story short, Senate Democrats filibustered the president's trade agenda for virtually no legitimate reason.

They may have appeared or claimed to have altruistic intentions and motivations, but the real story is that they wanted to lump together a series of bills into one package that could have been handled separately. A package of trade preferences for Africa, for example, is not related to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is more or less a replacement for the archaic North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

As things stand now, the nefarious "secret" trade deal will proceed as originally planned, rendering the 24-hour liberal victory essentially meaningless.

We've been over it before, but the "secret" trade deal isn't actually secret at all. The Hill reported last month that only three senators in three years had actually requested to view the current language of the trade agreement.

The current language of the deal can be viewed at any time by members of Congress. The full text of the incomplete agreement hasn't been released to the general public because it's still being negotiated and is subject to change.