Pro-trade Democrat Raps White House on
Panama Deal
By Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading Senate
Democrat urged the White House on Friday to
say when it would send a free-trade
agreement with Panama to Congress, saying he
worried it was getting postponed amid work
on healthcare reform.
The complaints from Senate Finance Committee
Chairman Max Baucus highlighted feuding in
President Barack Obama's Democratic Party
over free-trade deals negotiated by the Bush
administration with Panama, Colombia and
South Korea but not sent to Congress for
approval by Obama's White House.
Democrats like Baucus, who is from the farm
state of Montana, support the Panama deal
because of the boost it could bring U.S.
exporters. Others, like Democratic
Representative Louise Slaughter, oppose it
because of concerns about labor laws and tax
havens in Panama.
Obama administration officials have sent
conflicting signals on trade. Initially,
they said they were working hard on readying
the Panama deal for Congress.
Then they indicated last month the Panama
deal would wait until Obama outlined a new
trade policy framework, but did not say when
that would be.
Baucus, whose committee would have to
approve the agreement, said on Friday he was
surprised to read reports the White House
was not expected to send the Panama deal to
Congress until legislation to overhaul the
U.S. healthcare system passes the House and
Senate.
That could push back work on the Panama deal
until autumn. Democrats hope to vote on
healthcare reform by the end of July, before
an August recess, but have no guarantees of
that.
"What's going on here? Are those reports
true, or not true?" Baucus demanded at a
hearing on the nomination of Miriam Sapiro
to be deputy U.S. trade representative.
He also complained that "to my knowledge,
the administration has not yet consulted
with this Congress, let alone this
committee, on this new trade policy
framework."
Sapiro promised that if confirmed, she would
consult with lawmakers "as much as you would
like," but she provided no timetable for
sending the Panama deal to Congress or the
other trade pacts with Colombia and South
Korea. |
