China Trade Bill Gains Supporters
By Matthew Vita and Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 24, 2000
Supporters of normal U.S. trade ties with China picked up the backing of at least 10 more Democrats and four additional Republicans yesterday, moving President Clinton to within striking distance of achieving the major foreign policy goal of his second term.
On the eve of today's House vote, a titanic months-long lobbying battle pitting corporate America against organized labor focused on a dwindling number of undecided lawmakers – and enough appeared to be breaking the administration's way to ensure passage of legislation to grant permanent normal trade relations for China.
Those switching into the "yes" camp included five Texas Democrats who had been lobbied personally by President Clinton and other senior administration officials. Also on the list were two members of the Congressional Black Caucus, where the intervention of Rep. Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.), one of the most influential African American Democrats in the House, appeared to be changing some minds.
"I'm optimistic. We're still working very hard, but the momentum is clearly in our favor," said Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), one of the trade bill's most prominent GOP backers.
Despite the growing optimism in the "yes" camp, the bill's opponents refused to back down, staging a three-hour "vigil" on the House steps yesterday afternoon and delivering impassioned speeches against the proposal on the House floor last night.
"Nobody has the votes yet. We can beat this thing," said House Minority Whip David E. Bonior (Mich.), who has been leading the Democratic opposition.
But sensing the votes were falling their way, the House Republican leadership moved quickly to bring the measure to the floor, holding two hours of debate on the legislation last night – a day ahead of schedule.
The House Rules Committee, which Dreier chairs, was planning an additional four hours of debate today, with a single vote to follow on a bill that will incorporate a package of side measures that call for creation of a human rights commission on China and that seek to strengthen U.S. protections against surges in cheap Chinese imports. The side measures were widely credited with helping to convince many lawmakers with concerns about China's human rights, labor and trade record to support permanent trade relations.
Last night, GOP leaders decided to incorporate a proposal by GOP Policy Committee Chairman Christopher Cox (Calif.) to require an annual vote on China's human rights record. "Congress is now explicitly part of the process," Cox said.
The Clinton administration is asking Congress to give up its 20-year practice of reviewing China's trade status on an annual basis and instead grant Beijing permanent normal trade relations, which the United States has with all but six countries in the world.
American businesses and farmers want permanent ties so they can share in the market-opening concessions made by the Chinese government as part of its accession to the World Trade Organization, the body that enforces the rules of global commerce. The administration says the measure is crucial to opening up the Chinese political system.
But a disparate coalition of trade unions, environmentalists, human rights activists and other opponents of globalization – backed by the Democratic leadership in the House – are opposing the measure, arguing that it lacks sufficient teeth to guard against Chinese trade abuses and warning that abandoning the annual trade review will eliminate an important lever for moderating Chinese human rights behavior. Some conservative Republicans oppose the bill on national security and religious freedom grounds.
The administration late yesterday appeared to be about five to 10 votes short of the 218 needed for passage, which put the White House well within striking range, according to congressional vote-counters who have experience with closely contested trade votes. The Senate, where approval seems certain, plans to vote on the bill next month.
Republican leaders inched closer to reaching their target of 150 votes in favor of the bill. According to GOP leadership sources, 140 Republicans are now supporting the measure, with half a dozen leaning in favor and an additional 15 still undecided. "We're pretty confident," one senior GOP aide said. Democratic aides said 68 Democrats were counted as firm "yes" votes – two shy of their target of 70 – with about 15 undecided.
The Democrats are still "short of 70 [votes], and last I heard, the Republicans were still short of 150," said Commerce Secretary William Daley, who has been leading the president's lobbying effort. He added, however, that "things are moving" in the administration's direction.
Optimism among the bill's supporters grew as the day progressed yesterday and 10 previously undecided Democrats announced they would back the legislation. They included five Texans – Reps. Ruben Hinojosa, Solomon P. Ortiz, Silvestre Reyes, Jim Turner and Martin Frost, the highest-ranking Democrat to support the bill – as well as Reps. Allen Boyd Jr. (Fla.), Bud Cramer (Ala.) and Mike Thompson (Calif.).
Also coming out in favor of the legislation were two members of the Black Caucus, Reps. Gregory Meeks (N.Y.) and Sheila Jackson Lee (Tex.).
On the Republican side, Reps. James T. Walsh (N.Y.), David L. Hobson (Ohio), Sherwood L. Boehlert (N.Y.) and Robert W. Goodlatte (Va.) announced their support.
After a meeting of the Black Caucus yesterday morning, Rangel said he anticipated that as many as 12 caucus members – more than supporters of the legislation have been counting on – could end up backing the trade measure. During the meeting, lawmakers bristled at what they considered heavy-handed tactics by some unions.
One African American member, who asked not to be identified, cited a vigil by the AFL-CIO in front of the office of Rep. Eva Clayton (D-N.C.). "There's a change within the caucus in terms of saying, we don't have labor's agenda, we have our agenda . . . and that we don't have to be in lockstep with labor on every issue," Rangel said.
Both GOP leaders and White House officials continued to conduct painstaking negotiations with wavering lawmakers on the eve of the vote, even as organized labor and the business community stepped up their frenetic lobbying efforts.
Clinton held one-on-one Oval Office meetings with six more Democrats, including Cramer and Turner, who later announced their support. Also traveling to the White House were Reps. Grace F. Napolitano (Calif.), Owen B. Pickett (Va.), Bob Filner (Calif.) and Peter Deutsch (Fla.), a senior administration official said.
The AFL-CIO, which has generated 30,000 phone calls to 32 members' offices over the course of its campaign, brought in leaders from California, Florida, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas to personally lobby undecided members.
The Chamber of Commerce had 20 lobbyists working the House during the day, while the Business Roundtable, which is spending $1 million during the last week of the campaign, urged Washingtonians to call undecided members by distributing free 10-minute phone cards at Metro stations.
As the lobbying continued, so did the last-minute horse-trading. Rep. John Edward Porter (R-Ill.), a prominent human rights advocate, told Republican leaders he wanted to offer an amendment authorizing another $99 million in spending for the Board for International Broadcasting, which operates Radio Free Asia and Voice of America.
Democrats were just as busy. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski (Pa.), for example, was on the phone with the White House trying to make sure that a newly announced bipartisan plan to target low-income communities would include tax breaks for his district's anthracite coal region.
The last-minute round of dealmaking did pay some political dividends for the bill's supporters. Frost, the House Democratic Caucus chairman, announced he would vote yes after receiving a letter from Northrop Grumman Corp. stating the company would keep its plant in his Texas district.
Other demands were not met, however, as Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.) came out against the bill once he learned the administration would not modify a trade law to aid taconite miners.
Staff writer Charles Babington contributed to this report.
¸ 2000 The Washington Post Company
Best Regards, J.T. |
