Only 1 Bay Area Rep Supported President Obama's Trade Bill

By Bay City News Service

Only one Bay Area congressional representative voted in favor of a trade bill that stalled on Capitol Hill on Friday, according to a political research group.

U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Salinas, voted in favor of the Trade Promotion Authority, which would give the President wide authority to sign trade agreements with countries in the European Union and on the Pacific Rim, according to research group MapLight.

Farr said in a post on his Congressional website that the Trade Promotion Authority “is not a trade agreement. Instead it simply defines the process Congress will use to vote on future trade deals.”

Farr said the bill allows President Obama to keep in place the trade standards established by his administration. Otherwise, Republicans could take them away, Farr said in his post.

According to MapLight, the bill stalled Friday after representatives voted down a section titled Trade Adjustment Assistance, which would give financial assistance to workers who lose their jobs because of a trade agreement.

The no vote stops the bill from going to the president’s desk to be signed into law, according to MapLight. The vote on the section was 126 in favor to 302 opposed.

In the House of Representatives, the bill is known as H.R. 1314.

Ten Bay Area U.S. representatives voted against the bill while two did not vote, according to MapLight.

Only Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Walnut Creek, received more interest group money to oppose the bill than to support it, MapLight data showed. The data show all other Reps. received more money to support the bill.