Catherwood LibraryILR School

In a continuing effort to tie presidential fast track powers on trade agreements to protections for workers who lose their jobs due to increased foreign competition, the U.S. Senate voted yesterday to add a two-year wage insurance program to the trade bill supported by the president and currently being hotly debated in the Senate. Although the compromise was condemned by some Republicans as an entitlement, many in both parties praised it as an important and necessary step in reaching an agreement on the overall legislation and its effects. The passage of the overall trade bill and the fast track trade powers it contains are still questionable, as some Senators are using a ?poison pill? amendment on temporary health insurance support for retired steelworkers in an effort to block what many argue is a bill that does not provide adequate protections for labor and environmental rights.