The Rocky Road to Globaliation
Alexander Bolton writes: Washington Sen. Patty Murray is breaking with the rest of the Senate Democratic leadership over trade legislation.
Murray supports granting President Obama fast-track authority to negotiate trade deals, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. She also favors moving the fast-track measure before the Senate recesses for its Memorial Day break. But other Democratic leaders oppose fast-track.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) has vowed to delay it until Republicans lay out a clear path for passing an extension of the Highway Trust Fund and the National Security Agency’s surveillance authority in the next two weeks.
Nearly 40 percent of Washington state’s jobs are tied to exports, according to local business leaders, and she doesn’t want to play with fire when she’s facing reelection next year.
Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) said Tuesday there are “major challenges” that give him pause over granting Obama fast-track authority, and noted he voted against a similar bill in 2002.
Murray and Durbin could face each other for the whip post at the end of this Congress.
Durbin said he agrees with Reid that trade legislation should not move until Republicans lay out a clear plan for highway funding and surveillance authority.
New York Sen. Charles Schumer, the third-ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership, who is a lock to replace Reid as the Senate’s top Democrat in 2017, voted against TPA in the Finance Committee.
Murray downplayed tensions with other Democratic leaders over trade.
“We all accept that we come from different regions and different states,” she said.
Kris Johnson, president and CEO of the Association of Washington Business, said she hails from one of the most trade-dependent states in the country.
“Forty percent of jobs in Washington state are tied to trade in one manner or another,” he said. “I think last year alone we set an all-time high record of just over $100 billion in exports.” He said Washington exports more per capita than any other state except for Louisiana, adding that the local aerospace, technology and agriculture industries depend on trade.
Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Wash., and Boeing employs more than 80,000 people across the state.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D), Murray’s home-state colleague, said she will vote for fast-track if it moves with an extension of the Export-Import Bank and other measures.
