The Senate voted 62-38 Thursday morning to advance the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill, cutting off a Democratic filibuster. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Chris Coons (D-DE) were among the holdouts, voting to filibuster the last time around, and
holding out on this vote until late, after much on-the-floor negotiating with leadership.
The holdouts included senators who had demanded a path forward for the extension of the Export-Import Bank. It wasn’t immediately clear if a deal was struck on that issue. […]
Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., one of the pro-trade Democrats, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., threatened to vote against the trade legislation without some concession for reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank beyond the end of next month, an effort Stabenow said she supported.
“Being able to get financing, and know they’re going to get paid when they export is absolutely critical,” Stabenow said earlier in the week. “For the life of me, I can’t understand why people who are promoting a free-trade agreement would want to make sure that our businesses could actually use it.”
Negotiations continued on the floor following the vote, while the Senate was in a quorum call. Barring a deal cut for unanimous consent to dispense with the bill sooner, which seems unlikely given the very large Democratic opposition to this bill, this cloture vote sets up a vote on Saturday.
8:15 AM PT:
Murray says McConnell promised her a vote in June on renewing Ex-Im Bank.
— @ChadPergram