Mitch McConnell: Trade deal vote after 2016 elections
(CNN)—Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says one of President Barack Obama's top remaining legislative priorities shouldn't be sent to Congress for approval before the 2016 election, putting in doubt whether it can pass before the President leaves office.
In an interview Thursday with The Washington Post, McConnell said the measure in question, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free-trade agreement reached recently between 12 nations including the United States, Mexico, Japan and Australia, "certainly shouldn't come up before the election" because it might not pass.
"I think the President would be making a big mistake to try to have that voted on during the election. There's significant pushback all over the place," said McConnell, who in June voted in favor of providing fast-track congressional approval of trade agreements that would help the TPP pass more easily.
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In the Post interview, McConnell noted that the fast-track provision he voted for extends for five years, raising the possibility the next president could try to pass TPP.
"The next president, whoever that is, will have the authority to either revisit this one, if it doesn't pass, or finish the European deal or other deals, and give Congress a chance to weigh in on it," McConnell said.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/11/politics/trade-tpp-mitch-mcconnell/index.html
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