Orrin Hatch: “on the cusp of victory, the President sacrificed it by demanding more government spending on a controversial domestic…”

“on the cusp of victory, the President sacrificed it by demanding more government spending on a controversial domestic training program. After first asking Colombia, Panama and South Korea to take unprecedented steps to solve our President's concerns with each agreement, the administration held a press conference and, with no prior cngressional consultation or notice, announced that they would not submit our pending trade agreements to Congress unless Congress first agreed to continue funding a domestic spending program at near stimulus levels. This was an astounding development. Instead of working with Congress to seek approval of these job-creating trade agreements the President chose to try and force Congress to agree to additional domestic spending first. In an opinion editorial, the Wall Street Journal called this move ``extortion.'' Weeks of intense negotiations followed between the White House, Senator Baucus and Chairman Camp to develop a package that would expand and renew trade adjustment assistance through 2014. Meanwhile, committee staff worked with the White House to prepare the implementing legislation for quick congressional consideration. It appeared that we were once again close to successfully considering these important trade agreements. But yet again, it was not meant to be.…”