NATIONAL
Murray, Cantwell put Fast Track over the top
Needing 60 votes to invoke cloture and end debate on the bill, it passed 60-37, with both Washington Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray voting “yes.” The vote on Fast Track’s final passage is expected later this week, but only requires a simple majority or 51 votes to pass. Then President Obama will sign the bill limiting debate and forbidding Congress from amending free-trade agreements, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, for the next six years.
Cantwell and Murray had previously said they would not support the Fast Track bill unless it included reauthorization of the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, which extends unemployment benefits and offers job retraining to workers displaced by global trade. The TAA program expires in September.
In the House, the Fast Track bill was opposed by Democratic Reps. Denny Heck, Jim McDermott and Adam Smith. But fellow Democratic Reps. Suzan DelBene, Derek Kilmer and Rick Larsen joined all Republican Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Dan Newhouse and Dave Reichert in voting “yes.”