Senate Proceeds With Trade Bill By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Major trade legislation faced an uncertain future after the Senate brushed aside a strong appeal from the White House and refused to give the president the full authority he wants to negotiate international trade agreements.
The Senate voted Tuesday to retain its right to carve out of future trade deals any provisions that would weaken U.S. laws that protect American workers and industries from unfair foreign competition.
The vote came despite a letter from three Cabinet members that said they would recommend the president veto any trade bill with the restrictive language and warnings from proponents of the trade measure that it could bring down the bill.
Those proponents, led by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said they still hoped the contentious provision could be altered or removed when the House and Senate meet to reconcile their different versions. The House passed its bill last October by a one-vote margin.
Before it goes to House-Senate negotiation, the Senate bill faces numerous other sensitive amendments, including measures to extend benefits to retired steelworkers and ease restrictions on commerce with Cuba. The Senate is expected to spend another week on the measure.
The trade legislation would revive, after an eight-year lapse, the president's authority to negotiate trade agreements that Congress can approve or reject but cannot amend. President Bush has stressed that the United States cannot take the lead in a new round of World Trade Organization liberalization talks if other countries feel that any deal they work out would be subject to congressional tinkering.
Sens. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and Mark Dayton, D-Minn., put a serious damper on such ``fast-track'' authority with their amendment giving Congress the right to challenge and remove any section of a trade deal that would weaken protections against foreign dumping and subsidies.
``Idealism has its place,'' said Craig, a Republican Senate leader whose state, Idaho, has been hurt by Canadian lumber and other imports. ``Today we talk about the practical application of the law and our constitutional responsibility and the impact it has on my farmers and my ranchers and my working men and women.''
Dayton said Minnesota, another border state, has felt the negative effects of trade, and those harmed by foreign competition ``are the ones we stood up for today.''
Their amendment passed by voice after a 61-38 procedural vote that kept the measure alive. Sixteen Republicans joined 44 Democrats and an independent in the vote against tabling, or defeating, the amendment.
That strong showing came despite an aggressive campaign mounted by the White House and heavy lobbying by the business community against the Dayton-Craig amendment. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick circulated a letter saying they would recommend the president veto the trade bill if it included Dayton-Craig.
``Other countries will refuse to discuss their own sensitive subjects, unraveling the entire trade negotiation to the detriment of U.S. workers, farmers and consumers,'' they wrote.
After the vote, Zoellick said it ``would cripple America's ability to open markets around the world, and therefore we will work to ensure it is not in the final bill.''
Baucus, who with Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has tried to shepherd the trade bill through numerous hurdles, agreed that international dispute panels have weakened U.S. trade laws in the past. But ``I believe that the language in this fast-track bill makes very clear that Congress will not tolerate weakening changes to U.S. trade laws,'' Baucus said.
The Senate resolved last week what had appeared to be the biggest obstacle to fast track when negotiators agreed on a package of health care and other benefits, costing more than $10 billion over 10 years, for workers displaced by foreign competition. The trade measure would also extend low tariffs for the South American countries of Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.
--- Roll Call -- Alphabetical by Senator Name
VOTING NAY On Motion to Table
Akaka (D-HI), Nay Bayh (D-IN), Nay Biden (D-DE), Nay Leahy (D-VT), Nay Levin (D-MI), Nay Bingaman (D-NM), Nay Boxer (D-CA), Nay Byrd (D-WV), Nay Cantwell (D-WA), Nay Carnahan (D-MO), Nay Carper (D-DE), Nay Cleland (D-GA), Nay Clinton (D-NY), Nay Conrad (D-ND), Nay Corzine (D-NJ), Nay Daschle (D-SD), Nay Dayton (D-MN), Nay Dodd (D-CT), Nay Dorgan (D-ND), Nay Durbin (D-IL), Nay Edwards (D-NC), Nay Feingold (D-WI), Nay Feinstein (D-CA), Nay Graham (D-FL), Nay Harkin (D-IA), Nay Hollings (D-SC), Nay Inouye (D-HI), Nay Jeffords (I-VT), Nay Johnson (D-SD), Nay Kennedy (D-MA), Nay Kerry (D-MA), Nay Kohl (D-WI), Nay Mikulski (D-MD), Nay Murray (D-WA), Nay Nelson (D-FL), Nay Nelson (D-NE), Nay Reed (D-RI), NayReid (D-NV), Nay Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay Sarbanes (D-MD), Nay Schumer (D-NY), Nay Stabenow (D-MI), Nay Torricelli (D-NJ), Nay Wellstone (D-MN), Nay Wyden (D-OR), Nay
Allen (R-VA), Nay Bunning (R-KY), Nay Burns (R-MT), Nay Campbell (R-CO), Nay Collins (R-ME), Nay Craig (R-ID), Nay Crapo (R-ID), Nay Enzi (R-WY), Nay Sessions (R-AL), Nay Shelby (R-AL), Nay Smith (R-NH), Nay Smith (R-OR), Nay Snowe (R-ME), Nay Specter (R-PA), Nay Warner (R-VA), Nay Thurmond (R-SC), Nay
VOTING YEA Baucus (D-MT), Yea Breaux (D-LA), Yea Landrieu (D-LA), Yea Lieberman (D-CT), Yea Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Miller (D-GA), Yea Allard (R-CO), Yea Bennett (R-UT), Yea Bond (R-MO), Yea Brownback (R-KS), Yea Chafee (R-RI), Yea Cochran (R-MS), Yea DeWine (R-OH), Yea Domenici (R-NM), Yea Ensign (R-NV), Yea Fitzgerald (R-IL), Yea Frist (R-TN), Yea Gramm (R-TX), Yea Grassley (R-IA), Yea Gregg (R-NH), Yea Hagel (R-NE), Yea Hatch (R-UT), Yea Helms (R-NC), Not Voting Hutchinson (R-AR), Yea Hutchison (R-TX), Yea Inhofe (R-OK), Yea Kyl (R-AZ), Yea Lott (R-MS), Yea Lugar (R-IN), Yea McCain (R-AZ), Yea McConnell (R-KY), Yea Murkowski (R-AK), Yea Nickles (R-OK), Yea Roberts (R-KS), Yea Santorum (R-PA), Yea Stevens (R-AK), Yea Thomas (R-WY), Yea Thompson (R-TN), Yea Voinovich (R-OH), Yea