奥巴马太平洋贸易谈判努力迎来关键胜利

WASHINGTON — The Senate narrowly voted Tuesday to end debate on legislation granting President Obama enhanced negotiating powers to complete a major Pacific trade accord, virtually assuring final passage Wednesday of Mr. Obama’s top legislative priority in his final years in office.

华盛顿——周二，参议院以微弱优势通过表决，结束了就授予奥巴马总统更多谈判权的立法所展开的讨论，这种谈判权将让奥巴马可以完成一项重要的太平洋贸易协定。这个投票结果实际上保证了奥巴马在剩下任期的首要立法工作能在周三获得最后通过。

The procedural vote, 60 to 37, reached the minimum threshold needed, but final passage will require only 51 votes. It was the second time the Senate blocked a filibuster of so-called trade promotion authority, but this time the bill was shorn of a separate measure to offer enhanced retraining and education assistance to workers displaced by international trade accords. That measure faces a crucial procedural vote on Wednesday as well.

此次程序性表决的结果为60比37，达到了结束讨论所需的最低门槛，而法案的最终通过只需要51票。这是参议院第二次打破针对所谓的贸易促进权的拖延战术，但是这一次，该法案不包括一项单独的措施，即向因国际贸易协定而被迫离开工作岗位的劳工提供强化培训和教育协助。这项措施也将于周三面临关键的程序性表决。

Passage of a stand-alone trade promotion bill will put pressure on House Democrats, who this month brought down the worker aid provision when it was linked to the fast-track legislation, a strategic move they hoped would torpedo the entire trade package.

一项单独的贸易促进法案得到通过，会给民主党众议员施加压力。本月，民主党众议员推翻了与前述“快速通道”法案相关的劳工协助条款，希望能凭借这一战略举措来破坏整个贸易协定。

But Republican leaders — with support from the White House — found a parliamentary way to corner the Democrats, by separating the two pieces of the bill. By Wednesday evening, legislation will almost certainly be on the president’s desk giving him the power to complete the trade deal, the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, knowing Congress cannot amend or filibuster the final accord. He can sign it whether or not the House passes worker dislocation assistance when it is scheduled to come to a vote on Friday.

但是，拥有白宫支持的共和党领导人在国会找到了一种逼迫民主党的方式：把法案的两个部分分开。到周三夜晚，法案几乎肯定会被放在总统的办公桌上，赋予他完成该贸易协定——囊括12个国家的跨太平洋伙伴关系（Trans-Pacific Partnership，简称TPP）——的权力，因为国会无权修订最后的协定，也无法再实施拖延战术。众议院在周五的劳工援助法案投票不论通过与否，奥巴马都可以签署这项协定。

“This is a very important day for our country,” declared Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader. “America is back in the trade business.”

“对于我国，这是非常重要的一天，”肯塔基州共和党人、参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)说。“美国又回到贸易事务上来了。”

Almost all Democrats — and the labor unions, environmental groups and liberal activists who fought the bill — bitterly disagreed.

几乎所有民主党人——以及反对该法案的工会、环保组织和自由派活动人士——都表示强烈反对。

“It is a great day for the big money interests, not a great day for working families,” said Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination.

正在竞选民主党总统提名资格的佛蒙特州无党派参议员伯尼·桑德斯(Bernie Sanders)说，“这对于那些大利益集团是开心的一天，但对于工薪家庭却非如此。”

Thirteen Democrats sided with Republicans to end the debate and move to a final vote on trade promotion.

为了结束争论，以及就贸易促进权进行最后投票，13名民主党人与共和党人站到了一边。

The tortured path of trade promotion authority over the last six months created the bizarre spectacle of Mr. Obama linking arms with Republican leaders who otherwise have worked to thwart him, both on domestic and foreign policies.

过去六个月贸易促进权的艰辛道路创造了一个奇特的情况：在国内和外交政策方面，奥巴马竟然与共和党领导人联起手来——后者原本对他百般阻挠。

“Occasionally, even the leader of the Democratic Party, the president of the United States, gets things right,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No.2 Republican.

德克萨斯州参议员，共和党二号人物约翰·科宁(John Cornyn)说，“偶尔有时候，哪怕是民主党领导人、美国总统，也能办成一些事情。”

In the end, by summoning his parliamentary prowess, Mr. McConnell all but secured the top legislative priority of a president he once vowed to turn out after one term.

最后，麦康奈尔发挥自己在国会的能力，为奥巴马的首要立法工作提供了保障——而他曾信誓旦旦地表示要在奥巴马第一个任期后把他赶下台。

The path from here is still complicated, but for all its twists and turns, it is little in doubt.

从这里开始，道路仍然曲折；但是尽管问题重重，事情却几乎没有多少疑问。

The Senate on Wednesday is set to give final approval to trade promotion authority, then vote to end debate on a separate bill that attaches worker dislocation assistance to a broadly popular bill extending a longstanding trade agreement with Africa. That provision would then be voted on Thursday, and if approved as expected, it would go to the House on Friday.

周三，参议院必将最后批准贸易促进权，然后通过表决结束针对一项单独法案的争论。该法案把劳工援助法案与一项受到广泛欢迎的法案捆绑在了一起——后者延长了与非洲的一项长期贸易协议。这个法规将于周四接受表决，如果如预期那样得到批准，就将于周五递交给众议院。

This time, if Democrats bring it down, they will effectively be killing a worker education and retraining program that Democrats created in the Kennedy administration and have nurtured ever since — but will still watch Mr. Obama sign into law a “fast-track” trade negotiations bill that will extend well into the next presidency.

这一次，如果民主党人将其推翻，他们实际上就会否决这个劳工教育和培训项目——民主党人在肯尼迪任内创立了这一项目，并且一直在对其进行完善——而且还是要眼睁睁看着奥巴马把一项“快速通道”贸易谈判法案签署成法律，而且它将一直延续到下一任总统的任期。

At the same time, House and Senate negotiators will begin hashing out differences over a separate bill enhancing enforcement measures to police trade agreements. The measures will include a newly added provision speeding up action to combat foreign competitors who “dump” steel and other products on the United States market at artificially low prices to put domestic manufacturers out of business.

同时，参众两院的谈判人员将开始消除在一项单独法案上的分歧。该法案将加强执行措施，监督贸易协议。这些措施中将新增一个条款，用于加强对抗外国竞争者的行动。这些外国竞争者以人为操纵的低价格向美国市场“倾销”钢材和其他产品，从而迫使国内制造商走向破产。

Opponents of fast track hoped trade promotion authority without worker assistance would run into trouble in the Senate. And some Democrats did try to stoke fears that Congress could give the president the power to complete major trade deals without any assistance to workers who might be hurt by those agreements.

“快速通道”的反对者希望剥离了劳工援助法案的贸易促进权会在参议院遇到麻烦。一些民主党人的确也在煽动人们的恐慌情绪：国会可能会授予奥巴马完成重大贸易协定的权力，同时又不为可能因这些协议而利益受损的劳工提供任何帮助。

“How shameful is that? We’re making this decision knowing people will lose their jobs because of our actions. Yet we are not going to pass this assistance,” said Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, who led the opposition to trade promotion authority.

俄亥俄州的民主党参议员、反对贸易促进权的领导人物谢罗德·布朗(Sherrod Brown)说，“这是多么可耻！我们在做这个决定时，明明知道人们会因为我们的举动而失业，但我们却不准备让援助法案获得通过。”

Only one senator, Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, changed his vote from last month. In April, Mr. Cruz wrote a commentary with Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, praising the trade promotion bill for giving Congress more power — not less — over future trade accords. Under the trade promotion bill, such accords could not be considered by Congress for four months after completion, and for two of those months, the agreements would have to be made public and fully accessible. The bill adds dozens of negotiating objectives requested by lawmakers, who still could vote down any deal struck.

从上个月开始，只有德克萨斯州共和党参议员特德·克鲁兹(Ted Cruz)改变了自己的立场。4月，克鲁兹与威斯康星州共和党众议员保罗·D·瑞安(Paul D. Ryan)共同撰写了一篇评论文章，称赞这项贸易促进法案在将来的贸易协定的问题上增加——而非减少了——国会的权力。根据这项贸易促进法案，此类协定在完成之后，不能再接受国会为期四个月的考评，而且其中两个月，这些协议还必须公开，完全可供查阅。法案增加了议员所要求的数十个谈判目标，他们仍然有权否决已经达成的所有协议。

Since then, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, one of Mr. Cruz’s rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, announced his opposition to the trade promotion bill, and many of the Republican Party’s most fervent conservatives voiced angry opposition to any bill enhancing Mr. Obama’s authority.

从那时起，作为克鲁兹共和党总统提名人竞选对手的肯塔基州参议员兰德·保罗(Rand Paul)宣布自己反对这项贸易促进法案，而且共和党内许多最激进的保守派都愤怒地表示，他们反对所有增加奥巴马权力的法案。

On Tuesday, on the conservative website , Mr. Cruz denounced the bill he once supported.

周二，克鲁兹在保守派网站上对自己一度支持的法案表示了谴责。

“T.P.A. in this Congress has become enmeshed in corrupt Washington back-room deal-making, along with serious concerns that it would open up the potential for sweeping changes in our laws that trade agreements typically do not include,” Mr. Cruz said, again showing how presidential politics could complicate Mr. McConnell’s calculations over the next year.

“本届国会的贸易促进权已经卷入了华盛顿腐败的幕后交易，同时还有人非常担心，它可能会促使我们的法律发生翻天覆地的变化，而贸易协议通常没有这种作用，”克鲁兹表示，这再次说明，总统竞选政治令麦康奈尔对明年的盘算变得复杂起来。