Obama under pressure over FTAs, TAA

   WASHINGTON -- The leader of the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voiced clear opposition to President Barack Obama's push to package three pending trade pacts with a worker assistance program.

   "We expect in the House to move four separate bills, and I would hope they would heed our advice," House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters.

   His firm stance came a day after key committees in both the Senate and the House approved the bilateral free trade agreements

(FTAs) with South Korea, Colombia and Panama in "mock" markups.

   It is Obama's turn to take the next step. Many expect Obama to send over the implementing bills on the FTAs sometime next week, as he is eager to win ratification of the trade pacts, expected to create many jobs, before Congress enters summer recess on Aug. 5.

   A sticking point is whether to extend the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, designed to help workers adversely affected by foreign competition. Obama is seeking to renew the program, but Republicans dismiss it as a waste of taxpayers' money with dozens of similar programs in place.

   Obama has attached the TAA issue to the bill on the FTA with South Korea.

   "I have made it clear to the president and the White House that TAA should move on its own," Boehner said.

   Obama's choice remains to be seen. Some expect a compromise between the two sides, possibly by scaling down the TAA program.

   The White House reiterated calls for Congress to move the bills forward, stressing that TAA has long enjoyed bipartisan backing.

   "Trade Adjustment Authority has been supported by members of both parties for years," press secretary Jay Carney said in a press briefing. "And we believe it is very important to provide that kind of assistance to workers who have been displaced by free trade agreements, and that has been a notion supported, again, by members of both parties for a long time."

(Yonhap News)