WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bipartisan legislation to streamline the passage of trade deals through the U.S. Congress will probably not be done until next month, the Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said on Monday.
“We will probably have to wait until we get back but if I can get an agreement before, I will do it,” Orrin Hatch told reporters.
Congress goes on a two-week recess at the end of the week.
Talks on the bill, which would restrict Congress to a yes-or-no vote on trade deals in exchange for setting negotiating objectives, have been held up over Senator Ron Wyden’s calls for more transparency and greater congressional involvement. Wyden is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.
Hatch has said he will not consider a mechanism that would allow lawmakers to strip a bill of its fast-track status if it were deemed not to fulfill negotiating objectives adequately.
The impasse is frustrating trading partners. New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser, who visited Washington last week, said Congress had to pass the legislation before negotiators could finish up talks on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari said it would be difficult to reach a U.S.-Japan agreement, a key stepping stone to the wider deal, without trade promotion authority legislation.
Reporting by Krista Hughes; Editing by Sandra Maler and Peter Cooney
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