McConnell reiterates opposition to TPP vote before 2016 election

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday reiterated that the Obama administration should not submit the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal to Congress for approval until after the 2016 presidential election.

"If the president wants to succeed, he ought to take into account the reality of political situation," McConnell said at a breakfast event sponsored by Politico. "All the Democratic (presidential) candidates are against the deal. Many Republican candidates for the president are against the deal."

McConnell said he was "disappointed" at the outcome of the trade deal, which was reached between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries in early October. It could have been negotiated "a lot better," he said.

McConnell said he hadn't made up his mind on the precise timing of congressional vote on the TPP deal, but was opened to the possibility of delaying the vote until the next U.S. administration.

"I thought it was important to get TPA in place not just for President Obama but for the next president," he said of the trade promotion authority legislation passed this summer, which would allow the U.S. president to submit trade deals to Congress for an up-or-down vote without amendments.

It was the second time in a week that the Senate majority leader asked President Barack Obama to be cautious about putting the deal to a Congress vote.

But House Speaker Paul Ryan said it's still possible to have a vote on the Pacific trade agreement next year, although he and the House Ways and Means Committee are still going through the analysis of the trade pact and "have a lot of questions" about it.

"We want to move as soon as we can" if the TPP deal proves beneficial for the United States, Ryan said at the same event, adding that he doesn't "have a set date in mind."

Last week, McConnell warned that Obama "would be making a big mistake" if he tried to push for a vote on the TPP deal before next year's presidential election.

"It certainly shouldn't come before the election," he said in an interview with The Washington Post. "There's significant pushback all over the place."

The White House has criticized McConnell for his stance on TPP vote timing, arguing that "there's no reason that we need to wait that long."

"Our view is that it is possible for Congress to carefully consider the details of this agreement and to review all of the benefits associated with this agreement for states and communities all across the country without kicking the vote all the way to the lame duck period," White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters last week.

While the Obama administration has touted the Pacific trade deal as a means to create jobs and write the rules of international trade, labor unions, environmental groups, consumer and heath care organizations across the country have come out against it out of various concerns.

Influential business groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Manufacturers Association, which traditionally back trade deals, have also not publicly endorsed the TPP, amid dissatisfaction over provisions governing tobacco, pharmaceuticals and financial institutions in the trade deal. Enditem