http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/21/us-usa-trade-idUSKBN0O61WJ20150521
President Barack Obama on Thursday moved closer to winning the power to speed trade deals through the U.S. Congress when the Senate advanced legislation important to his Asian trade push. Senators voted 62-38 to set up a speedy decision on the "fast-track" trade negotiating authority the president needs to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. The TPP is part of Obama's so-called pivot to Asia, a strategy to counter China's rising economic and diplomatic clout in Asia.
Obama called the vote "a big step forward," adding that his trade agenda dovetails with the "strong labor standards, strong environmental standards" that his fellow Democrats in Congress are demanding. Thirteen of 44 Democrats backed the legislation in the Senate's second procedural vote. Some supported moving ahead with fast-track after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, assured them he would set a vote next month on a bill to renew the Export-Import Bank's charter, according to leading Democratic senators. The charter is due to expire at the end of June.
They were joined by 49 of 54 Republicans, giving supporters of the legislation more than the 60 votes needed to proceed in the 100-member Senate. With some of the Senate's arcane procedural underbrush cleared away, senators tried to focus on amendments to the bill - some of them contentious - and there could be yet another procedural vote requiring 60 supporters.