Crs Report for Congress: Trade Promotion Authority (Tpa)

ISBN-10: 1294021818
ISBN-13: 9781294021810
Series: Crs Report for Congress
Pages: 30
Language: English
Published: 2013-10
Publisher: BiblioGov
Authors: William H. Cooper, Congressional Research Service: The Libr, J. F. Hornbeck

Description

On July 1, 2007, Trade Promotion Authority (TPA -- formerly known as fast track), expired. TPA is the authority Congress grants to the President to enter into certain free trade agreements (FTAs), and to have their implementing bills considered under expedited legislative procedures, provided he observes certain statutory obligations in negotiating them. TPA allows Congress to exercise its constitutional authority over trade, while giving the President added leverage to exercise his authority to negotiate trade agreements by effectively assuring U.S. trade partners that final agreements are given swift and unamended consideration. TPA reflects years of debate, cooperation, and compromise between Congress and the Executive Branch in finding a pragmatic accommodation to the exercise of each branch's respective authorities. The core provisions of the fast track legislative procedures have remained unchanged since first enacted in 1974, although Congress has expanded trade negotiation objectives, oversight, and presidential notification requirements. While early versions of fast track/TPA received broad bipartisan support, renewal efforts became increasingly controversial as fears grew over real and perceived negative effects of trade, and as the trade debate became more partisan in nature, culminating in a largely party-line vote on the 2002 renewal. The current renewal debate is centered on ...