"The Senate on Wednesday gave final approval to legislation granting President Obama enhanced power to negotiate major trade agreements with Asia and Europe, sending the president’s biggest end-of-term legislative priority to the White House for his signature.

Senators then approved a bill that provides assistance to workers displaced by international trade accords, attaching it to a popular African trade measure that will go to the House for a final vote Thursday morning. House Democrats signaled they would support the measure, which they had voted down two weeks before.

The burst of legislative action secured a hard-fought victory for Mr. Obama and the Republican congressional leadership. It kept on track an ambitious agenda to complete a broad trade agreement joining 12 countries — from Canada and Chile to Australia and Japan — into a web of rules governing trans-Pacific commerce. Negotiators will also move forward on an accord with Europe, knowing that any agreement over the next six years will be subject to a straight up-or-down vote, but cannot be amended or filibustered in Congress."

Jonathan Weisman reports for the New York Times June 24, 2015. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Environmentalists Lobby Against A Controversial Trade Deal" (KPBS: 4/27/2015) [3]