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The US House of Representatives sidetracked a high-profile White House-backed trade bill today, a humiliating defeat for President Barack Obama inflicted by Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and dozens of rank-and-file lawmakers from his own party.
The 302-126 vote came a few hours after Obama journeyed to the Capitol to deliver a last-minute personal plea to fellow Democrats to support the measure, which would allow him to negotiate global trade deals, including one with 11 Asian nations near completion, that Congress could approve or reject but not change.
"I don't think you ever nail anything down around here. It's always moving," the president said as he departed a prescient remark given Pelosi's dramatic announcement later on the House floor.
"Slow down the fast track to get a better deal for the America people," Pelosi said in a speech that drew handshakes and hugs from union-backed Democrats who have labored for months to reject Obama's request for "fast track" authority in trade talks.
Republicans command a majority in the House, and Speaker John Boehner and the Republocan leadership worked in harness with Obama to pass the legislation.
But there were many defections among Republicans unwilling to expand the president's authority and not nearly enough Democrats supporting him for the bill to prevail.
The outcome was also a triumph for organised labor, which had lobbied lawmakers furiously to oppose the measure that union officials warned would lead to the loss of thousands of American jobs.
Technically, the vote was on a portion of the legislation to renew federal aid for workers who lose their jobs through imports.
A second roll call followed on the trade negotiating powers themselves, and the House approved that measure, 219-211.
But under the rules in effect, the overall legislation, previously approved by the Senate, could not advance to the White House unless both halves were agreed to.
That made votes something less than a permanent rejection of the legislation.
Pelosi said the bill was "stuck in the station," suggesting that changes could get it moving again.
Even so, it was unclear how majority Republicans and the White House would be able to gain the momentum.
"Basically the president tried to both guilt people and then impugn their integrity," said Rep. Peter DeFazio, a Democrcat and one of the most outspoken opponents of the legislation.
