(click to enlarge)
On Thursday, House Republicans once again held a vote on the so-called "Trade Promotion Authority" legislation—abbreviated as TPA and better known as "fast-track"—that would prevent Congress from adding amendments to any trade deals negotiated by President Obama. And once again,
the same 28 Democrats voted in favor of it:
Terri Sewell (AL-07)
Susan Davis (CA-53)
Sam Farr (CA-20)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Ami Bera (CA-07)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Jared Polis (CO-02)
James Himes (CT-04)
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23)
Mike Quigley (IL-05)
John Delaney (MD-06)
Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Gregory Meeks (NY-05)
Kathleen Rice (NY-04)
Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15)
Eddie Johnson (TX-30)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Beto O'Rourke (TX-16)
Gerald Connolly (VA-11)
Donald Beyer (VA-08)
Rick Larsen (WA-02)
Suzan DelBene (WA-01)
Derek Kilmer (WA-06)
Ron Kind (WI-03)
Last week, when fast-track first came up for a vote, its fate was tied to another piece of legislation called Trade Adjustment Assistance, which helps displaced workers.
Since TAA failed, so did TPA, even though the latter received a majority vote. This time, unencumbered by TAA, TPA passed by a 218 to 208 margin, thanks to the support of those 28 Democrats listed above.
Now TPA will head to the Senate for a possible vote next week whose outcome is uncertain. Republicans have promised Democrats that TAA will come up for a separate vote as part of a non-controversial trade bill regarding Africa, but will Democrats in the Senate take that risk and support TPA on its own?
We know that 28 House Democrats were willing to do so, and we aren't going to forget their names.
Comments are closed on this story.