The Wall Street Journal - White House Makes Trade Pitch, With Focus on Moderates

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By Isaac Stanley-Becker

President Barack Obama is ramping up efforts to convince individual House members to grant him fast-track authority to negotiate trade deals, focusing his efforts on a dwindling group of undecided Democratic lawmakers.

But Democrats who have already backed the deal publicly said these members need to be convinced they are not trading away their own political futures for a vote on fast-track. Potentially decisive are moderate, pro-growth members of the New Democrat Coalition. Its vice-chair, Rep. Jim Himes (D., Conn.), spoke as recently as Monday to the president, after fielding calls from the White House during last week's recess as well.

"He asked me: do you really think -- based on my record -- do you really think I would be fighting for something that would hurt the American middle class?" Mr. Himes said. "I've got to try to see what he sees."

Mr. Obama told the congressman, now in his fourth term, that he thought he had 20 Democratic votes lined up, Mr. Himes said. The precise number he needs will depend on the number of GOP votes House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) can produce. The bill would allow the president to send trade agreements to Congress for an up-or-down vote. Mr. Obama hopes to use it for a trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, with Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim nations.

The sole undecided member of the Connecticut delegation, Mr. Himes said he is on the verge of a decision -- still mulling over intellectual property concerns and questions about the impact on workers.

But other factors may be weighing on the Democratic lawmaker. Rep. Brad Ashford of Nebraska, a Democrat who was an early backer of the deal, said he is worried fellow Democrats fear for their seats if they vote for fast-track. He pointed to Rep. Ami Bera, a California Democrat, who has faced stiff criticism since announcing his support for the deal.

To counterbalance pressure from groups opposing the deal, Mr. Ashford said, Mr. Obama needs to convince Democrats it won't be politically dangerous for them to back him. That means pledging support for their re-election campaigns, he said.

"The president has to say, "I will support and protect those Democrats who have supported this bill,'" Mr. Ashford said. "It's critical, especially for those Democrats where the threat is apparently "we're going to run primary candidates against you.'"

Rep. Kurt Schrader of Oregon, another Democrat who has said he will vote for the fast-track measure, also known as trade promotion authority, or TPA, said the president has already effectively made this promise in meetings with House Democrats who have spoken in favor of the bill. Mr. Schrader said this should allay fears that supporting fast-track will make it impossible to win a Democratic primary, as some have tried to make it seem, he said.

Rep. Ron Kind of Wisconsin, the chairman of the New Democrat Coalition who is supporting the deal, said it's an "all-hands-on-deck moment from [Mr. Obama's] administration." But a fellow Democrat who's backing TPA, Mike Quigley of Illinois, said "the White House came a little late to the game." Still, he said there are enough undecided Democrats to tip the scales in favor of the president. He suggested that some were waiting to announce their support so as to "shorten the pain" of backlash from the more liberal wing of the Democratic base.

Rep. Cheri Bustos (D., Ill.), who said she decided to oppose TPA after seeing how manufacturing has contracted in her district, said she didn't have an opportunity to entertain the president's personal pitch -- she never got it.

"President Obama nor Denis McDonough nor … the trade ambassador, none of them made a personal phone call to me," Ms. Bustos said.

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