Free-trade legislation involving Asia and Europe is a big deal to much of the business community in Oregon, which has a disproportionate percentage of jobs tied to international trade.
However, a new round of stories coming out of Washington, D.C. suggests that President Barack Obama and congressional leaders -- including the new chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden -- may put off the issue until after the mid-term elections in November.
Those post-election, or lame-duck, sessions of Congress are often when the body takes up politically difficult issues.
Obama had hoped to be well on his way toward achieving a 12-nation deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership by the time of a scheduled April trip to Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and the Philippines.
But as The New York Times explains, Democrats in Congress are increasingly expressing opposition to rushing into any more free-trade agreements. Many say they're worried that these trade deals destroy American manufacturing jobs, an argument vociferously made by their close allies in organized labor.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have both come out against legislation that would require Congress to give an up-or-down vote on any free-trade pact. And Vice President Joe Biden told House Democrats in a close-door meeting that he understood that "local political priorities" stand in the way of any quick action on this bill.
This so-called Trade Promotion Authority legislation is regarded as crucial to any trade deal with the Pacific Rim nations or on a separate round of trade negotiations with several European countries. That's because trade negotiators are loathe to get to the bottom line if they fear Congress will come back with demands for more concessions instead of being forced to simply accept or reject the treaty.
Wyden has a long record of voting in favor of international trade pacts, ranging from the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico in 1993 to the trade deals that Congress approved with South Korea, Panama and Colombia in 2011.
But Wyden has made it clear upon ascending to the Finance chairmanship that he needs to have a series of talks with his fellow Democrats before coming up with any new trade legislation.
"What we've got to do is figure out a way to expand the winner's circle" on these agreements, said Wyden at a January meeting with constituents in Beaverton. Translation: he understands that he can't rush anything through Congress on trade.
The South Korea, Panama and Colombia trade pacts, which were negotiated by the Bush administration but adopted by Obama, were passed in Congress mostly with the help of Republican votes.
Given Oregon's geography and economy, the state's Democratic members of Congress were more likely to support those trade deals. On the most important trade deal of the three, with South Korea, Wyden and Democratic Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Kurt Schrader and Suzanne Bonamici all voted yes while Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. Peter DeFazio voted no. (Rep. Greg Walden, the state's sole GOP congressman, was a yes vote).