House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated on Thursday that a deal between House lawmakers and the Trump administration on the USMCA could be announced within the coming days.
“I do believe that if we can get this to the place it needs to be — which is imminent — that this can be a template for future trade agreements,” Pelosi told reporters during a weekly press briefing. “A good template.”
Pelosi added that she would like to see the trade agreement pass the House this year — a timeline that matches the Trump administration’s own goal.
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The comments are the clearest indication yet that House Democrats are close to a deal with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer after months of negotiations on the pact's labor, environmental, enforcement and prescription drug provisions.
In what could be another sign of progress, Pelosi also met on Thursday afternoon with the nine-member working group that she tapped to secure changes to the USMCA. The group had not been scheduled to meet this week as of Wednesday.
House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.), speaking with reporters after the meeting, cautioned that he did not expect a deal to be announced Thursday, but that he would be speaking to Lighthizer on Thursday afternoon and "then we’ll proceed from there."
Pelosi also has plans to speak with Lighthizer, Neal said.
"There’s a series of issues that are still a bit elusive but we’re trying very hard," Neal, who leads the working group, said after the meeting.
Two people familiar with the ongoing negotiations also told POLITICO this week they see Democrats and Lighthizer reaching a handshake agreement within the next two weeks, before lawmakers head home for Thanksgiving.
Still, a deal in the next few days would leave only a narrow window for lawmakers to complete the necessary procedural steps and hold a vote on the deal before they wrap up for the year. The House is currently scheduled to adjourn on Dec. 12, leaving just 14 legislative days in 2019.
After House Democrats wrap up negotiations with Lighthizer, the onus will be on the Trump administration to get any changes to the pact approved by both Canada and Mexico, as well as to finalize an implementing bill to send to Capitol Hill.
Both the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees then plan to hold "mock mark-up" hearings — providing an opportunity for lawmakers to give feedback on the deal — before formal votes take place.
Pelosi appeared to recognize the ticking clock, saying Thursday that lawmakers will need to see a copy of the implementing legislation "as soon as we come to a conclusion" with Lighthizer.
She added that Democrats already "have an idea" of what the implementing bill will look like, which leaves the door open to the House potentially getting the agreement done this year. "That would be my goal," she said.
If the House passes the deal, the legislation is expected to sail through the Republican-led Senate.
Of House Democrats' four major concerns with the deal, the two areas that have proved the hardest to resolve are issues with labor provisions and enforcement of the overall deal. Pelosi underscored her focus on enforcement in particular but said the two sides “are moving positively.”
But it remains to be seen whether labor unions like AFL-CIO will support the deal or opt to publicly oppose it. Democrats have long acknowledged that it's important that unions not be vocal opponents of the pact. People close to the negotiations have indicated that the goal is to ensure the unions at least say neutral.
Asked whether he believed support for USMCA from the labor movement was in reach, Neal said: "I do and we need it."
"I think we would all agree that right now the proposal we have in front of us is substantially better than NAFTA that’s 25 years old. Whether or not it's enough, we’ll have to figure that out," Neal said.
Pelosi also struck an optimistic tone when asked how organized labor groups like the AFL-CIO might respond to the negotiated fixes. She noted simply how Democrats and labor have "shared values."
“We’re in a good place,” she said.
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