Orrin Hatch not happy about TPP. May strip out 'fast track' and force renegotiation.

[pampango]

Orrin Hatch holds cards on trade deal
One of Congress' strongest trade boosters is critical of the landmark Asian-Pacific deal — and well-positioned to delay or kill it if he decides to do so.

No one fought harder to give President Barack Obama trade promotion authority to complete a landmark 12-nation deal than Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch. Now, no lawmaker may be more disappointed with the result — or better positioned to torpedo the deal if he chooses to oppose it.

Despite fast-track rules, though, congressional approval of the deal is far from certain. By securing language sought by Democrats — settling for far less than 12 years of monopoly protection for biologics, for instance, and barring tobacco companies from being able to sue countries for financial losses related to antismoking laws — the administration managed to tick off Republicans, among them Hatch, who accounted for the bulk of support for fast track authority.

In the case of TPP, if Hatch decides to oppose it, the White House would probably think twice about submitting it for a vote. But if the administration went forward anyway, Hatch could pursue two options to force it back to the negotiating table by stripping “fast-track” protections from the deal.

Both options are built into the TPA law. One allows both chambers to adopt a "procedural disapproval resolution" within 60 days of each other, asserting the White House did not adequately notify or consult Congress, or that the Asia-Pacific trade deal “fails to make progress in achieving the purposes, policies, priorities, and objectives” of the trade promotion law. The second option would allow either the House or the Senate to strip "fast track" procedures in that chamber only. To begin that process, the Senate Finance Committee or the House Ways and Means Committee would have to send the pact to the floor with a "negative recommendation," urging it be rejected, which would be subject to normal rules.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/orrin-hatch-tpp-pacific-trade-deal-decision-214893

Several of the TPP countries have said recently they will not renegotiate the recently completed negotiations so Hatch could effectively kill it this way.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Heh. Somebody just told him that if it passes, Obama gets credit.

And he can't even let the President have credit for things that will destroy the country.

[Blue_Tires]

2. Translation: Hatch wants something for himself out of this deal...

[CanonRay]

5. Exactly, it's all just kabuki theater.

[cpompilo]

3. I never in my wildest dreams ever thought I'd root for Orin Hatch!

Go, Orin, Go!

[Omaha Steve]

6. x 2

K&R!

OS

[ruffburr]

4. I do not-

Give a tinkers damn how nor who stops the TPP just so long as this Secret "Trade Deal" disaster is Stopped.

[JEB]

7. Kill it, kill it, kill it.