New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer is at the center of the Democrats' revolt against President Barack Obama's fast track trade bill.
Schumer, who is set to take over as minority leader when Sen. Harry Reid retires, was in an awkward position as the trade bill came up for a vote,
Roll Call is reporting.
The measure was missing a provision that he authored that is aimed at discouraging countries from manipulating their currency. When it wasn't part of the trade bill on Tuesday, its absence is what led the
Democrats to filibuster the fast-track trade package.
On Thursday, the Senate passed this currency measure, which is expected to be the prerequisite to getting Democrats to support Obama's trade bill,
Bloomberg is reporting.
Now that this condition has been met, the Senate will likely advance the fast-track measure.
Schumer has said that he didn't want his currency measure, which is opposed by the White House, to be used as a poison pill, which led him to make it an amendment to last month's customs bill.
The New York Democrat has historically opposed trade bills, but as the party's pending leader in the Senate, Roll Call contends that he's realizing that he has to take into account the differing views in his own party, which in this case includes pro-trade Democrats, such as Washington Sen. Patty Murray.
"I think he is trying to be as constructive as possible for a caucus that’s divided," Murray said.
Schumer's other goal was making sure that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell allowed a vote on other bills that Democrats were pushing.
"Democrats are not going to go … down this path without assurances from Sen. McConnell that we are going to get opportunities to vote on all of these bills," Schumer said Tuesday.
McConnell agreed to allow separate votes on the currency manipulation bill and on one that governs imports from sub-Saharan Africa as conditions for passing the fast-track trade measure.
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