Why Obama's New Best Allies on the Hill Are CEOs

Before President Obama leaves office, he wants to complete two major free-trade agreements, one with Asian nations and the other with the European Union. To do it, he says he needs a guarantee from Congress that it will simply vote yes or no on any deal the White House offers, without trying to amend it. “I’m asking both parties to give me trade promotion authority to protect American workers with strong new trade deals from Asia to Europe that aren’t just free, but fair,” Obama said in his State of the Union address.

New Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has pledged, uncharacteristically, to push for a vote to give Obama the negotiating authority he wants, known as fast track. “It’s an enormous grant of power from a Republican Congress to a Democratic president, but that’s how much we believe in trade,” McConnell told reporters in early January. “This is an area where we can make progress.”