At his weekly press briefing today, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) urged President Obama to engage in a robust effort to secure Democratic support for enacting Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which would support economic growth and jobs here at home. While the administration claims TPA is a priority, it has done little to secure Democratic support for the initiative on Capitol Hill: “You can look down a whole host of issues, but at some point the President needs to stand up and lead. And, you know, I would expect we are going to see a bipartisan bill introduced today by Congressman Camp and Senator Baucus on Trade Promotion Authority for the president, but I made clear to the President that this can’t pass unless there is bipartisan support for it. And this goes back months, and yet we’ve seen scant attention to this issue by the administration in terms of encouraging Democrat leaders and Democrat members to stand up and vote for it.” NOTE: In 2011, under a Republican majority in the House, job-creating free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea were enacted, all of which had languished for years under Democratic control. House Republicans will continue supporting […]
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