Cord Byrd: “this bill prevents the Senate from enacting a resolution of disapproval against a trade agreement that it finds…”

“this bill prevents the Senate from enacting a resolution of disapproval against a trade agreement that it finds objectionable, unless the Finance Committee chooses to report such a resolution to the full Senate. A resolution of disapproval enacted by the Senate would withdraw the application of fast track procedures to any bill the President submits to the Congress to implement a trade agreement. Although, at first glance, the bill before us appears to permit a Senator to introduce a resolution of disapproval rejecting fast track procedures applied to a trade agreement that is brought back to the Senate by the President, the reality is that such a resolution most probably would never come to the floor of the Senate for a vote. This is because the bill states that, once a resolution of disapproval is introduced and referred to the Senate Finance Committee, it will not be in order for the full Senate to consider the resolution if it has not been reported by the committee. In other words, a disapproval resolution cannot be forced to the floor through a discharge of the Senate Finance Committee. The way this bill is currently written, if a resolution of disapproval is not reported out of the Senate Finance Committee, it might as well never have been introduced. The resolution may simply lie there until it dies. This means that, so long as the Senate Finance Committee endorses the President's agreement, the views of the rest of the Senate are irrelevant.”