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Debt Ceiling Thumper

Debt ceiling thumps SKFTA – won’t pass before August Recess

WASHINGTON (AP) — A dozen Senate Republicans say they have cleared the way for legislation to help workers displaced by foreign competition, possibly removing the main obstacle to approval of free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia. The Obama administration supports the trade deals but says they must be linked to extension of expired sections of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program. The Republican senators said in a letter to President Barack Obama that they can assure passage of the worker aid bill by joining Democrats in moving it past any filibuster hurdles. Their support, while welcomed by the administration, may be too late for Congress to act on the aid and trade bills this before the lawmakers' summer recess begins on Aug. 6. Congress is likely to be preoccupied until then in resolving the crisis over raising the government's debt limit to avoid a first-ever U.S. default. Administration officials said this week that the Obama administration might delay sending final legislation on the three trade deals until September.

Debt ceiling debate derails momentum

Stangarone 5-16 (Troy, Director of Congressional Affairs and Trade – Korea Economic Institute “Passing FTA may take longer,” Korea JoongAng Daily, 2011, http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2936209)

Further complicating the picture is the debate over raising the debt ceiling in the United States. Unlike most countries, the United States has a statutory limit on its borrowing and is expected to reach that limit this August. Earlier this year, there were contentious talks over the budget that dominated the time and attention of the administration and Congressional leaders as they worked to avoid a government shutdown. The debt ceiling talks have the potential to do the same. This could remove much of the capacity available for the White House and the Congressional leadership to hash out their differing positions on timing and sequencing of the FTAs, which is largely tied to continued progress by Colombia on reaching benchmarks set in a recent agreement to address concerns about labor rights and violence against union members in Colombia. All this means that we should not expect the Korus FTA to be voted on before late summer or the fall. While the recent decision to move forward on the drafting of the legislation for the pending FTAs should be viewed as the positive development that it is, the domestic debates over TAA and the debt ceiling are likely to drag out the process. There are real differences over how the trade agenda should work that Democrats and Republicans still must resolve and reaching an agreement that is acceptable will take time.

Biden has handed over the debt ceiling talks to Obama- will cost Obama PC

Vice President Joe Biden says bipartisan budget talks have made headway but that the next step is up to President Barack Obama and top congressional leaders. Biden issued a statement Thursday declaring the talks in a state of "abeyance" after Republican negotiators abandoned the talks in a dispute with Democrats over higher taxes. Biden said the goal of the talks was, in his word, "to report our findings back to our respective leaders." He said those leaders need to determine the scope of an agreement that can tackle the problem and attract bipartisan support. Democrats and Obama have insisted on reducing long-term deficits by cutting spending and increasing tax revenue. Republicans have said tax hikes will not be part of the negotiations.

Debt Ceiling delays SKFTA

Devaney 7/28, Washington Times (Tim D. 7/28 "Debt crisis delays other votes; Decisions on free-trade pacts likely postponed" Lexus )PHS

The House Republican point man on trade said Wednesday that votes on three long-stalled agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama will be pushed back until the fall at the earliest because lawmakers working on the pacts are preoccupied with the fight over raising the federal debt limit. But House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp told business leaders at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast address that it looked like a deal will be worked out between President Obama and Hill Republicans that would finally allow the free-trade pacts to pass. "I think [members] are distracted with the debt issues," the Michigan Republican said. "I think [the trade deals] are passed after the debt limit." Congressional leaders from both parties are ready to move forward with the three trade pacts - after years of negotia-tions and renegotiations - but are still waiting on the White House to give them the go-ahead, Mr. Camp said. The agreements would be the first major trade deals approved since Mr. Obama took office in 2009. But congressional Democratic aides have cautioned that no firm deal is in place and that the negotiations are still con-tinuing. Senate Democrats and House Republicans have been working on a compromise on funding for the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program that had been holding up the three agreements. Democrats said they would not support the trade deals unless the program, which provides retraining for U.S. workers affected by imports, was funded. Under the new plan, the Senate would first pass a TAA package, Mr. Camp explained. Then, the White House would send the three trade agreements to the House, where they would vote on the trade agreements and TAA separately.