WASHINGTON (PAI) - The long debate in Congress over giving the president Fast-Track trade authority took another twist on May 15, when the Senate voted 61-38 to allow separate votes on any section of any treaty that would weaken existing U.S. trade laws.

Organized labor hailed the vote, but the Bush administration threatened to veto the entire Fast-Track package - a scenario that organized labor would prefer. The Republican-run House passed Bush's version of fast track, 215-214 last December.

Bush's bill lacked provisions for labor rights, and it mandated that future Fast Track treaties must go to Congress for up-or-down votes, without amendments, as he wants. That would shut lawmakers, and workers, out of the trade treaties and negotiations. The Senate version also includes restrictions that would outlaw dumping of cheap, foreign imports.

The Senate amendment "ensures that U.S. trade remedy laws are not weakened in international negotiations," said AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney.

Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer, called the Senate amendment "a show stopper" and denounced its supporters as "protectionist."

Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone (D) represents a state like Michigan that has been hit hard by free trade. The ore industry in both states is in dire straits because of the dumping of cheap foreign steel.

"There can be no doubt about adverse effects of so-called globalization and trade on jobs and job security," Wellstone said. "In Minnesota alone, Steel Workers on the Iron Range, workers at Potlach and Northwest Airlines workers statewide, along with many other workers, have all lost their jobs, their health care and in some cases a significant portion of their pension benefits, as a result of unfair trade."