The Senate on March 18 confirmed, by a 92-5 vote, President Obama’s nomination of former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk as U.S. trade representative.
Voting against Kirk’s nomination were Sens. Christopher (Kit) Bond, R-Mo., Jim Bunning, R-Ky., Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Bernie Sanders, D-Vt.
During an abbreviated March 9 confirmation hearing, Kirk had said the administration’s trade priorities would focus on enforcing existing accords before negotiating new agreements. “I don’t come to this job with deal fever,” Kirk said at the time. Concerning existing trade agreements negotiated by the Bush administration that still are awaiting action by Congress, Kirk committed to work to resolve outstanding issues in an effort to secure passage. He cited the U.S.-Panama Free Trade Agreement as the one most likely to be brought up for consideration, but warned that the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement was “simply unfair” and would need to be renegotiated. Meanwhile, the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement remains blocked over alleged targeted violence directed against Colombian labor unions.
In a related matter, the Obama administration has proposed a $500 billion expansion of the International Monetary Fund’s lending authority as part of an effort to maintain the flow of international trade and investment. The proposal has generated support from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., and the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Richard G. Lugar, R-Ind.