j​Third Way Statement on House Trade Votes

Today Third Way issued the following statement from Jim Kessler, Senior Vice President for Policy:

“No one expected the route to a trade agreement to be a straight one. Today, the House of Representatives dealt a temporary procedural setback to advancing trade legislation by rejecting the compromise measure on Trade Adjustment Assistance. But the bipartisan vote on Trade Promotion Authority was a strong statement that there is enough support to move this forward once the procedural process is fixed.

“We salute the 28 courageous Democrats who faced down the special interests to stand with President Obama and the middle class to support this bill. They chose to embrace the future, not fear it. We saw this movie before in the Senate just weeks ago when side issues momentarily delayed passage of TPA. Like the Senate, there is an easy path forward, and we urge House Republican and Democratic leaders to fix this minor procedural problem quickly and bring the trade bill back to the floor next week.”