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Sen. Sherrod Brown says trade negotiating bill will be harder to pass in House
YOUNGSTOWN
Though the U.S. Senate approved giving the president fast-track trade negotiating authority, Sen. Sherrod Brown, who voted against that bill, said it’s going to be more difficult to get the House to back it.
“I don’t know if it will pass; [President Barack] Obama is hitting the House hard” lobbying for votes, said Brown, a Democrat from Cleveland, during a Friday interview with The Vindicator.
Brown listed several reasons why it could be a struggle including “the hatred of Obama is probably stronger in the House than in the Senate. In the end, they are giving trade-negotiating authority to a president they detest to negotiate with foreign governments.”
The Republican-controlled Senate voted 62-37 on May 22 to give Obama, a Democrat, the authority to negotiate trade deals with Congress having no power to vote on amendments to those agreements. Obama is concluding negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement with 11 countries that Brown said is bad for American companies.
The House, also with a Republican majority, could vote on the fast-track bill in the next two weeks, Brown said.
“The Senate is always more pro-free trade,” he said.
Brown also said the recent fast-track bill got “more ‘no’ votes in the Senate than they got on trade issues in decades, maybe ever.”
That’s not accurate, as the Senate approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement in 2005 by a 54-45 vote and the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993 by a 61-38 vote.
During the 35-minute interview, Brown was asked if he supported raising the federal fuel tax for improvements to roads and bridges.
“Sure we should, yeah, and do other things,” he said. “You raise the gas tax, but you do something with payroll tax breaks for middle-income people to not get hit [unfairly] by a gas tax increase. Combine it with a payroll-tax deduction.”
The federal government hasn’t raised that tax since 1993. It’s 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel fuel.
When asked about the potential presidential candidacy of Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, Brown admitted his answer was “deflecting” the question.
“I find it interesting that this guy might run for president, and it looks like he’s going to, and the first debate is held in Cleveland, and the governor of the premier swing state may not make the cut the way they’re doing this,” Brown said.
The Aug. 6 Republican debate will include the top 10 presidential candidates according to national polls that show Kasich just outside the top 10.
“You can take anyone of eight or nine people and you can make the case how they can win,” Brown said. “I don’t know that Kasich has the national fundraising base of [Jeb] Bush, [or] probably of [Scott] Walker.”
But, Brown said, much fundraising to run for president is done outside the public eye.