WASHINGTON -- In a victory for President Barack Obama, supporters of sweeping, bipartisan trade legislation narrowly fended off a last-minute challenge Friday night, clearing the way for Senate passage and a highly unpredictable summer showdown in the House.
Legislation to prevent a lapse in the anti-terror Patriot Act and a bill to prevent a cutoff in federal highway funding also awaited action by lawmakers who covetously eyed a weeklong vacation -- set to begin whenever the work was done.
The White House watched nervously as the trade bill slowly made its way, and prodded the Senate to accept a House-passed bill renewing anti-terrorism programs due to expire June 1. Spokesman Josh Earnest said that to do otherwise would put at risk "the ability of our national security professionals to keep us safe."
The trade measure would allow Obama to make global trade deals that Congress could approve or reject, but not change. Previous presidents have had the same authority, and the administration wants it to strengthen the hand of U.S. negotiators as they pursue a 12-nation agreement among countries with Pacific Ocean coastline.
Lawmakers whose time generally is scheduled far in advance adjusted as best they could.
"It's not the weather, it's the Senate that's the problem," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., hoping to make it home by Saturday night for a turn as pianist with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.
Republican Sens. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham couldn't have said it any better. All three presidential contenders scrapped trips to a meeting of the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Oklahoma City.
The trade measure had slightly more than the 60 votes needed for passage, and a final significant challenge failed narrowly, 51-48.
It came on a proposal, by Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who supports the trade bill, and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who opposes it. They sought to made allegations of currency manipulation subject to the same "dispute settlement procedures" as other obligations under any trade deal.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warned earlier that its approval could cause Obama to veto the legislation. The president has said it could cause the demise of the current round of talks with 11 other Pacific-area nations, and also could pose a threat to the monetary policy that is designed to help the U.S. economy run better.
Portman, who was U.S. trade representative under former President George W. Bush, scoffed at threats of a veto. "I don't think so," he said in remarks on the Senate floor. "I think he (Obama) understands the importance" of his ability to conclude trade deals without congressional changes.
An alternative proposal backed by the White House merely stressed the importance of U.S. negotiators seeking ways to end the practice of currency manipulation, which can lower the price of foreign-made goods and place American-made products at a competitive disadvantage. It cleared on a vote of 70-29.
Like most trade bills, the one currently in Congress crossed party lines. Republicans and about a dozen Democrats supported the overall measure, which they argue would lead to more exports overseas by U.S. companies and more jobs at home.
Opponents include many labor unions and most Democrats in Congress. They say international trade deals cost jobs at home as companies move production to nations with lower wages and more lenient environmental and labor standards.
To ease concerns on the part of some Democrats, the measure also included $1.8 billion in retraining funds for American workers who lose their jobs as a result of exports. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said the program duplicated other federal efforts, but his attempt to strip out the funds was defeated, 53-35.
Many of the same issues are expected to renew themselves in the House, where Democrats are overwhelmingly opposed to the bill and many Republicans are loath to increase Obama's power at their own expense.
The day's agenda made for shifting Senate alliances.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Obama's indispensable ally on the trade bill, saw things differently than the White House on the Patriot Act legislation.
The disagreement centered on a House-passed provision to eliminate the National Security Agency's ability to collect mass telephone records of Americans. Instead, the material would remain with phone companies, with government searches of the information allowed by court order on a case-by-case basis.
"The untried -- and as of yet, nonexistent -- bulk-collection system envisioned under that bill would be slower and more cumbersome than the one that currently helps keep us safe," McConnell said in remarks on the Senate floor. At worst, he added, "it might not work at all."
McConnell supported a two-month extension of the current law as a backstop. But that appeared unlikely to command the 60 votes needed to advance. A possible outcome was a one- or two-week renewal of the current law, which would require Congress to return to the issue immediately after reconvening in June.
The highway bill was the least controversial of the three on the Senate's pre-vacation agenda, but only because lawmakers agreed in advance on a two-month extension of the current law. The House and Senate will need to return to the issue this summer.
Associated Press reporter Ken Dilanian contributed to this story.
National on 05/23/2015