The chief agricultural negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative says the election year is putting added pressure on getting the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement passed.
US Trade Representative Michael Froman signed the agreement in early February. Darci Vetter says the next step is for the administration to submit the agreement to Congress.
Once submitted, Congress has 90 legislative days for it to pass through both the House and the Senate.
“Now, in legislative days that gets stretched out to be a very long time,” she says. “But obviously when you start a clock you want to make sure you have the support to move this agreement through the process. So we are currently working closely with congressional leadership and leadership committees about the best time to submit this bill.”
Vetter says in order for the agreement to pass in a lame-duck Congress, education needs to start now.
“If you think about the fact that Democratic and Republican conventions begin in mid-July and between the convention and the election, not much is going to get done in Congress,” she says. “I don’t think there are many legislative days scheduled—maybe a handful—between the convention and that time. We then don’t have time in a short period of a lame duck session to both change minds and push the vote across the finish line.”
Source: www.brownfieldagnews.com