TPP Trade Authority Battle Rd. 1: Warren/Democrats 1, Obama/Republicans 0

By Paul Kane May 12 at 3:10 PM
The liberal grass-roots movement gave birth to two huge stars over the last decade, one who rode a wave of anti-war support into the White House and the other who became the ideological standard-bearer in the fight against big banks and corporate greed.

Now, in a battle few saw coming three years ago, President Obama and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) are locked in an increasingly personal dispute over a mammoth global trade deal that the president is trying to finalize in his last years in the White House. The faceoff has become the defining battle in the Democratic Party, as Obama seeks “fast-track” trade authority from Congress, which would allow him a freer hand to cut trade deals.

The ultimate goal is approval of a deal with 12 Pacific-rim nations representing roughly 40 percent of the global economy.

Moreover, this dispute sets the stage for the campaign to succeed Obama in office, as the firebrand senator has opted not to run but instead is focusing her effort on moving the likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Rodham Clinton, farther to the left.

On two fronts Warren appears to have won initial battles. The Senate on Tuesday ran into a filibuster of the Trade Promotion Authority measure that would grant Obama fast-track powers to pass global deals, as the overwhelming majority of Democrats blocked consideration of the legislation.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-warren-feud-breaks-open-as-trade-legislation-blocked-by-democrats/2015/05/12/9902f880-f8bb-11e4-9030-b4732caefe81_story.html