Senate To Vote on Trade Promotion Authority

The Senate voted 60 to 37 June 23 to invoke cloture (60 votes were needed) and allow a vote as early as tomorrow on a House-passed Trade Promotion Authority bill supported by TV and movie studios, consumer electronics companies, Internet service providers and others. A cloture vote ends debate and allows for a vote on the underlying bill. The bill, the trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (HR 2146 ), outlines the negotiating objectives that any administration has to follow in conducting trade talks, and requires Congress and the public to have access to information on trade deals before they are struck.

The bill makes Congress a partner in trade agreements. It also deals with cybertheft, trade secrets and intellectual property protection. The last is particularly important to content providers. The bill would, among other things, make it clear that trade protections include digital as well as physical goods. TV and movie producers represented by the Motion Picture Association of America have been strongly in favor of the bill, which also grants the President "fast track" authority to negotiate bills, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership bill, which Motion Picture Association of America also supports. TPP would expand trade and access to creative content to much of the Asia-Pacific region, MPAA has said, including creating what it calls "strong standards for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights for the 21st century."