FAST-TRACK CLEARS SENATE HURDLE IN VOTE

Protesters gather outside the hotel where the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a pan-Pacific trade agreement is being forged by trade ministers from 12 nations, in Sydney, on October 25, 2014

The Senate will allow President Obama’s trade agenda to move ahead uninhibited, voting in favor of killing the debate around fast-track authority. The motion was 60-37 and will get a final vote on Wednesday.

Fast-Track would allow the president to send trade deals directly to Congress for votes, avoiding the rules and regulations generally associated with such legislation. Obama was looking for fast-track authority in order to pass the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

These 13 Democrats voted in favor of fast-track despite the fact that it does not include an assistance program for workers displaced by new trade policies:

Michael Bennet (D-CO)
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Tom Carper (D-DE)
Chris Coons (D-DE)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)
Tim Kaine (D-VA)
Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
Patty Murray (D-WA)
Bill Nelson (D-FL)
Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Mark Warner (D-VA)
Ron Wyden (D-OR)

On the floor, after the vote, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown declared, “This was a day of celebration in the corporate suites in this country.”