ICYMI: Inside U.S. Trade: "New Coalition" for Trade Includes New Dems
From an Inside U.S. Trade recap of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)'s meeting with the New Dems this week:
"Earlier in the day, Wyden said his focus is on building a new bipartisan coalition for a trade policy that promotes U.S. manufacturing and innovation, not on picking a "date out of the sky" for passing a new TPA bill. "Everybody wants to talk about a timetable. I'm focused on trying to get the policies right," he added.
He signaled that he aims to have TPA "on its way" by 2015, though he did not say that this meant introduction of a TPA bill. "I certainly want to have a new bipartisan coalition for a trade policy that lets us grow things here, make things here, add value to them here, innovate here, and then ship them somewhere. I certainly want to have that on its way by 2015," he said, in response to a question of whether his process of developing trade legislation would run into presidential primary season.
Wyden spoke to Inside U.S. Trade after a lunch meeting with the New Democrat Coalition in the House, which focused mostly on tax and health issues. According to congressional sources, the trade part of the discussion at that meeting centered on the need for strong intellectual property in TPP -- particularly with respect to e-commerce -- and the prospect of improving transparency surrounding ongoing trade negotiations...
After the meeting, New Democrat Chairman Ron Kind (D-WI) praised Wyden for engaging in House-Senate coordination, adding that the senator is "very in tune with listening to members as far as increased consultation, increased engagement."
"That's the only way this is going to work," Kind said."
Inside U.S. Trade subscribers can read the full recap here.
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