FAST-TRACK AUTHORITY IS IMPORTANT TOOL

Congress is considering extending to President Bill Clinton the authority to negotiate trade agreements, an issue known as fast-track authority. A House vote was pending this weekend. There is plenty at stake for America's position in the global economy, and passage is a matter of vital importance.

Although support is bipartisan, far more Republicans than Democrats favor fast-track. Only about 60 of 206 House Democrats favor it. If Clinton's position is to prevail, he will need to be rescued by the same folks who gave him his victory in the North American Free Trade Agreement fight four years ago: House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his Republican -- now majority -- caucus.

Says Al From, president of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council: "On the merits, supporting fast-track is a no-brainer. It is difficult to make a substantive case against giving the president the authority to hammer out trade agreements that will increase U.S. exports by reducing other countries' trade barriers." From bitterly laments those in his party, such as Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, who are waging a last-ditch effort to deny a president of their own party this power. This is quite simply bizarre, but of a piece with Gephardt's stubborn defense of the past across a range of issues, even as we move into exciting new frontiers of foreign markets and international commerce. Dick Gephardt is fighting Bill Clinton for the soul of the Democratic Party. There are protectionist impulses within the Republican Party as well, but they haven't held nearly as much sway as they do in a House Democratic caucus that increasingly resembles a wholly owned subsidiary of the AFL-CIO.

Every president since 1974 has enjoyed this authority. That means that previous Democratic Congresses handed this power to three Republican presidents and a Democratic chief executive. Bill Clinton must not be denied it now.