Tuesday, December 4, 2007: Debating Trade Deal with Peru

[17:15]
Contrary to earlier reports, it appears that senators cannot reach any kind of agreement on an Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) fix. Earlier today May Baucus (MT) said that he thought that he had enough votes to support a one-year AMT patch. However, Baucus just said on the floor that Senate Republicans were holding up an AMT fix.

Mitch McConnell (KY), minority leader, propounded a unanimous consent request which contained an outline for Senate work on an AMT fix. Baucus objected to this UC. Reid earlier sent a motion to proceed to the House-passed AMT fix. Reid also filed a cloture motion for that motion to proceed. Senators could vote for cloture on the House-passed AMT fix on Thursday, but from Baucus's recent floor remarks, it sounds like Democrats are short of the 60 votes they need to proceed to the AMT patch.

[16:23]
Byrd said that the Senate was meeting its responsibility by passing funds for bridge repair, for low-income heating assistance, for cops on the streets, for first responders. Etc. His point is that this funding was passed by the Senate but vetoed by the President.

Byrd has now started to cough and has asked his aid for a cough drop. C-SPAN2's camera cuts away in courtesy.

He continues. The choice is clear, he says, as clear as the noonday sun in a cloudless sky.

[16:21]
Robert Byrd (WV) is asking the President to stop, S-T-O-P, stop the veto threats that have been the albatross of the budgetary process for months.

[14:57]
The Senate is now in a quorum call. Max Baucus said earlier today that there are enough votes to pass an AMT patch. I call it a patch because it is just a one-year fix. It is apparently not paid for. The Senate is going to take up this AMT patch later this afternoon.

[14:52]
Peru Free Trade Agreement passes 77-18.

[12:02]
Mel Martinez (FL) says that senators should vote in favor of the Peru Free Trade Agreement. Martinez says it will add 900 jobs to Florida's economy. He says that it will add $2b per year to the U.S. GDP.

Further, Martinez says that for the first time a trade deal contains enforcement provisions if environmental or labor concerns arise under the deal.

He is also talking about why entering this deal is a strategic imperative for America. He describes the deal as a reward for Peru's allegiance to democracy over the last ten years. Martinez is implicitly contrasting Peru with other countries in South America that have moved toward the left, such as Venezuela and Bolivia.

[11:56]
Sherrod Brown (OH) spoke in opposition to the Peru Free Trade Agreement, as did Bernie Sanders (VT).

Max Baucus (MT), chairman of the Finance Committee, spoke in favor of the deal. He said that the Peru agreement is the first of its kind to address environmental standards in the partner country.

[10:36]
Jon Kyl (AZ) says that there are problems with the version of the FISA update that came out of the Judiciary Committee. He says that this version of the bill ties down intelligence agencies with too many limits on how those agencies can gather foreign intelligence. The bill makes FISA the sole means by which U.S. entities can gather intelligence. Kyl says that this language is too narrow.

[10:33]
John Cornyn (TX) is urging the Senate to pass the intelligence & wiretapping bill that is moving through Congress. It is an update of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Cornyn says that telecomm companies should be granted immunity from lawsuits by customers alleging that the companies breached privacy agreements by allowing the gov't to eavesdrop on customers' communications. Cornyn says, "Are we going to hang these companies out to dry or are we going to give them the protection they are entitled to under the law?" Of course, that protection "under the law" does not exist except for in prospective legislation granting immunity.

Precap:

At 10:00, the Senate will convene and begin a period of morning business. Thereafter, it will resume consideration of H.R. 3688, the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act.

This is a free-trade treaty that the Bush Administration has negotiated with Peru. The current law on Congressional approval of trade deals permits Congress only to vote yea or nay on a trade deal. This means that Senators cannot offer amendments altering the terms of the deal. You either take it or leave it.

The deal passed the House 285-132.