ID :
192156
Fri, 07/01/2011 - 01:46
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/192156
The shortlink copeid
Republican senators block key session on FTA with S. Korea
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with senators' comments, S.Korea-EU FTA, details)
By Lee Chi-dong
WASHINGTON, June 30 (Yonhap) -- Republican U.S. senators on Thursday boycotted a crucial session to discuss free trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, dealing a blow to President Barack Obama's strong push to get the long-pending deals ratified before early August.
On Tuesday, the White House declared a breakthrough in efforts to advance the free trade agreements (FTAs), saying it struck an agreement with the House of Representatives to extend the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program intended to fund re-training and health care for displaced workers.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Thursday convened a "mock markup," which gives senators a chance to request amendments to the bill.
But Republican members of the committee did not show up for the session in protest of Obama's plan to tie the TAA to the FTA with South Korea, dubbed KORUS FTA.
Obama is seeking to include the extension of the TAA into the KORUS FTA bill, which has gained relatively broad support in Congress. Republicans, doubtful about the effectiveness of the budget-gulping TAA, want to separate the issue from the pact's ratification.
"This is beyond irresponsible," Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said, taking issue with the abrupt announcement of the mock markup schedule just ahead of the Independence Day holiday.
"The progress leading up to this markup, not to mention the substance, has been so noxious that we cannot in good faith attend this markup and pretend as though everything is fine and dandy. We would be doing a disservice to our constituents and our oath if we were to collaborate in this current process," he added.
Democratic senators claimed their Republican colleagues were trying to use the economic issue for political gain ahead of next year's presidential elections.
"They want to do everything possible to hurt the president, to keep the economy where it is -- election strategy 2012," John Kerry (D-MA) said.
The mock markup hearing is intended to send nonbinding amendments to the White House under the "fast-track" trade promotion authority, so the president can send a final bill to Capitol Hill for a "yes or no" vote.
The Obama administration wants Congress to ratify the FTAs before it goes into summer recess on Aug. 5.
The KORUS FTA was signed in 2007 by the previous governments of the two nations and additional terms, mainly on automobile trade, were agreed to last year.
With the U.S. economic recovery slowing, Obama has emphasized the importance of the trade pact, the biggest for the U.S. since the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1994, to increase exports and create jobs.
U.S. officials are also apparently uneasy about the South Korea-European Union FTA, which went into effect earlier in the day.
lcd@yna.co.kr
leechidong@gmail.com
(END)
By Lee Chi-dong
WASHINGTON, June 30 (Yonhap) -- Republican U.S. senators on Thursday boycotted a crucial session to discuss free trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, dealing a blow to President Barack Obama's strong push to get the long-pending deals ratified before early August.
On Tuesday, the White House declared a breakthrough in efforts to advance the free trade agreements (FTAs), saying it struck an agreement with the House of Representatives to extend the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program intended to fund re-training and health care for displaced workers.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Thursday convened a "mock markup," which gives senators a chance to request amendments to the bill.
But Republican members of the committee did not show up for the session in protest of Obama's plan to tie the TAA to the FTA with South Korea, dubbed KORUS FTA.
Obama is seeking to include the extension of the TAA into the KORUS FTA bill, which has gained relatively broad support in Congress. Republicans, doubtful about the effectiveness of the budget-gulping TAA, want to separate the issue from the pact's ratification.
"This is beyond irresponsible," Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said, taking issue with the abrupt announcement of the mock markup schedule just ahead of the Independence Day holiday.
"The progress leading up to this markup, not to mention the substance, has been so noxious that we cannot in good faith attend this markup and pretend as though everything is fine and dandy. We would be doing a disservice to our constituents and our oath if we were to collaborate in this current process," he added.
Democratic senators claimed their Republican colleagues were trying to use the economic issue for political gain ahead of next year's presidential elections.
"They want to do everything possible to hurt the president, to keep the economy where it is -- election strategy 2012," John Kerry (D-MA) said.
The mock markup hearing is intended to send nonbinding amendments to the White House under the "fast-track" trade promotion authority, so the president can send a final bill to Capitol Hill for a "yes or no" vote.
The Obama administration wants Congress to ratify the FTAs before it goes into summer recess on Aug. 5.
The KORUS FTA was signed in 2007 by the previous governments of the two nations and additional terms, mainly on automobile trade, were agreed to last year.
With the U.S. economic recovery slowing, Obama has emphasized the importance of the trade pact, the biggest for the U.S. since the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1994, to increase exports and create jobs.
U.S. officials are also apparently uneasy about the South Korea-European Union FTA, which went into effect earlier in the day.
lcd@yna.co.kr
leechidong@gmail.com
(END)
