Senate showdown on fast-track trade bill

Fast-track – or Trade Promotion Authority, its formal title – lets President Barack Obama send the US Congress a future trade deal for approval by a single vote, with debate being time-limited and no possibility to amend a text. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican, Kentucky) plans to hold a procedural vote on 12 May to take up the bill. Under the Senate's rules, the bill needs 60 out 100 senators to vote for it to proceed. Most of the…