| This vote was on a procedural motion to invoke cloture to stop a filibuster and cut off debate on the "Fast Track" conference report (the largest legislative piece of the Andean Trade Preferences Act, H.R. 3009). Fast Track legislation included authorization to negotiate a 31-nation NAFTA expansion; retrograde limits on enforcement of labor or environmental standards in trade agreements; and an expansion to more nations of the NAFTA investor-to-state lawsuits, which allows foreign corporations to challenge domestic regulatory standards before trade tribunals if they limit future expected profits. The conference report eliminated the Senate-passed provisions protecting U.S. trade safeguard laws and watered down the trade adjustment assistance reforms to protect workers who lost their jobs to trade. Sixty votes were needed to cut off debate. Passed 64 Yea to 32 Nay. |