The U.S. Senate is about to become a battleground for two key pieces of legislation affecting workers - Trade Adjustment Assistance and presidential 'fast track' trade promotion authority.

Their fates are intertwined, said Larry Weiss, executive director of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition, which leads efforts locally against fast track and other aspects of the corporate 'free trade' agenda.

Rolling the dice
Republicans generally support fast track. They generally oppose Trade Adjustment Assistance. That's why the Senate fight promises to be so intriguing, Weiss said.

Top Democrats - with South Dakota's Tom Daschle and Montana's Max Baucus in front - intend to link TAA provisions to fast-track legislation, Weiss said.

Daschle and Baucus are free-trade proponents, he said, and their motives are not always clear. But they apparently believe including strong TAA provisions is the best way to help fast-track survive another vote in the House. On Dec. 6, fast track squeaked through the House by a single vote, 215-214, after a flurry of last-minute deals from the White House and Republican leaders.

Strong TAA provisions can give fast-track supporters political cover by demonstrating that they recognize the effect of free trade on American jobs, Weiss said. Given Republican opposition to TAA, teaming those provisions with fast track may be the best - or only - way to get new TAA provisions through Congress, he said.

However, tying TAA to fast-track could doom one or both pieces of legislation altogether. Much of it depends on what version of TAA gains support, Weiss said.

Seeking more help for displaced workers
The AFL-CIO backs TAA, which provides an additional 52 weeks of unemployment insurance and up to two years of job training for workers hurt by trade. The benefits can kick in when workers lose their jobs to increased imports, have their hours or wages cut because of increased imports, or are thrown out of work when their company moves their jobs out of the U.S.

The AFL-CIO wants any new TAA legislation to also pay 75 percent of COBRA health-insurance premiums for displaced workers, and to include 'secondary' workers, not just workers directly thrown out of their jobs by imports.

Minnesota taconite workers are an example of 'secondary' workers, Weiss said, who suffer the consequences of steel imports, even if indirectly. Daschle and Baucus are expected to include the AFL-CIO's provisions in their TAA language.

Most Republicans are unlikely to support TAA in that form, Weiss said. President George W. Bush's TAA proposal, for example, does nothing for secondary workers, and only uses tax credits to address the high cost of COBRA health- insurance premiums.

The AFL-CIO, meanwhile, opposes fast track in its current form, which would give Bush the ability to negotiate international trade deals without Congressional oversight. In going along with fast track, Congress gives up its constitutional right to modify international trade agreements, and settles for a simple up or down vote.

The AFL-CIO is on record as saying it will oppose fast track even if its TAA provisions are included. But TAA is not the only amendment fast track will face.

Amendments seek restrictions, delays
One major fight is expected over an amendment to forbid negotiating away U.S. anti-dumping laws and other trade remedies, Weiss said. Trade representative Robert Zoellick angered many in Congress when he put those remedies on the table at the latest round of WTO talks in Qatar.

Another fight is expected over an amendment to prevent any new trade deals from including language similar to NAFTA's Chapter 11. That language, although largely untested, apparently allows foreign companies to sue governmental entities in the U.S. for profits they say they lose as a result of such laws as environmental regulations, safety standards or prevailing wage requirements.

Several senators, including Paul Wellstone, are expected to offer a variety of other amendments to limit the types of trade deals that can be negotiated under fast track.

Even if the amendments fail, Weiss said, an extended debate increases the likelihood that fast track will not be resolved soon. 'The closer we get to the November election, the better chance we have of stopping it when it gets back to the House,' he said. The coalition is urging calls to Daschle, Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Congressman Ron Kind of Wisconsin.

Contact information

* Sen. Tom Daschle, 202-224-2321

* Sen. Herb Kohl, 202-224-5653 or 715-832-8424

* Rep. Ron Kind, 202-225-5506 or 715-831-9214

This article was written for The Union Advocate newspaper, the official publication of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. Used by permission. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org