Senators prod Obama to move Panama, Colombia deals

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two senior senators on Thursday urged President Barack Obama's administration to begin immediately technical work on legislation to enact long-delayed trade pacts with Colombia and Panama.

"We believe that beginning this process will help remove doubt from our trading partners that Congress and the administration are committed to moving these agreements expeditiously," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat, and Republican Senator Orrin Hatch said in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

Both pacts, along with a third agreement with South Korea, have been delayed for a number of years mainly because of opposition from U.S. labor groups.

Senior Colombian officials, including Juan Carlos Pinzon, chief of staff to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, were in Washington on Thursday for talks with Kirk's office on labor and violence concerns that have blocked the pact.

A U.S. official said the talks, led on the U.S. side by Deputy Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro, went "quite well" and would continue on Friday.

Kirk told the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday he thought remaining problems with Panama and Colombia could be resolved, but did not provide a timetable for action as Baucus and Hatch urged him last month to do.

Obama plans to submit the South Korea agreement soon to Congress, following recent changes to the pact's auto provisions to reduce domestic opposition.

Baucus and Hatch want Obama to also submit the Colombia and Panama agreements and are concerned those deals could fall by the wayside if they are not considered with the South Korea pact.

Senator Richard Lugar on Thursday became the latest Republican to say he would help block action on the South Korea agreement unless the Obama administration agrees to submit the Colombia and Panama deals for a vote.

In the House of Representatives, Republican Kevin Brady, the chairman of the Ways and Means trade subcommittee, announced a hearing next week on the Colombia agreement, in another effort to put pressure on Obama to send up the pacts.

In the case of Colombia, that means addressing U.S. labor union concerns about killings of Colombia union members and prosecuting those responsible for the crimes.

The United States is pressing Panama to make further reforms to its labor and tax haven laws.

Baucus and Hatch said beginning technical discussions on the legislation to implement the Colombia and Panama agreements would empower U.S. trade officials to resolve "outstanding issues as soon as possible."

They told Kirk they were relieved to learn the Obama administration is "not seeking any modifications to the trade agreements themselves."

(Reporting by Doug Palmer; editing by John Whitesides and Cynthia Osterman)