Senate Passes TPA By 60-38 Vote, Drawing Praise From Big Tech Groups

The Senate 60-38 Wednesday cleared trade promotion authority legislation, sending it on to President Barack Obama for his signature. CEA President Gary Shapiro in a statement said the action is "essential" to innovation and the U.S. economy: "It is a common sense bill, which simply guarantees a vote on trade agreements and directs our trade negotiators to balance intellectual property rights with an open-and-fair flow of commerce." Other tech groups also praised the Senate. “The Senate did its part to help grow the economy by passing TPA," said Vince Jesaitis, IT Industry Council vice president-government affairs, in a statement. "TPA can help future trade agreements reflect the important role that digital trade plays in our economy to help our tech goods and services compete more fairly overseas." TPA's passage "shows that bipartisan achievements aren't dead in Washington," said Victoria Espinel, president of BSA | The Software Alliance, in a statement. TPA is "historic legislation" that makes clear "that any 21st-century agreement must include strong, clear, and enforceable rules to ensure the free global flow of data," she said. The Senate, which was poised for most of the day Wednesday to clear TPA as a stand-alone bill, will continue to push forward on the trade preferences package to send that legislation over to the House by Thursday, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on the floor Wednesday. Tuesday, high-tech interests cheered Senate passage of a procedural motion allowing the TPA vote (see 1506230043). Trade lobbyists said TPA and the preference bill are likely to sail through the chamber by the end of the day Thursday. “What we know now is TPA is going to the president’s desk and he’ll sign it,” said Simon Rosenberg, president of the pro-free trade New Democrat Network, even before the 60-38 vote took place. Rosenberg is "optimistic" that trade adjustment assistance "is going to pass also,” he said. CEA and hundreds of U.S. companies and associations pushed lawmakers to support the preference bill, in a Wednesday letter.