President Obama scored a victory for his trade agenda on Wednesday when after weeks of uncertainty the Senate voted to give him expanded powers to negotiate international deals. 
 
 The Senate voted 60 to 38 to clear legislation granting the president so-called fast-track trade authority, which would make it easier for the administration to negotiate trade deals by preventing them from being amended by Congress. 
 
 To get the bill through Congress, the president teamed up with Republican leaders on a rare issue where they share a common goal. Many congressional Democrats opposed the fast-track bill over concerns that trade agreements hurt U.S. workers more than they help the broader economy. 
 
 “Achieving this positive outcome was never going to be easy, but it proves that the power of a good idea, no matter where it comes from, can win out over the stasis of gridlock,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement. He added: “We’re grateful for the President’s efforts to help us move this idea forward, and we applaud him for speaking truth-to-power to his base.” 
 
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 Congress is poised to soon clear other trade legislation sought by the White House. 
 
 The Senate on Wednesday also passed, by voice vote, a bill reauthorizing a program that provides aid and retraining for workers who lose their jobs to outsourcing as part of a package that also includes widely-supported trade preferences. 
 
 The plan is for the House to clear that bill for the president on Thursday. 
 
 House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday paved the way for Democrats to support this Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) bill when she announced that she will now support the legislation. Many House Republicans oppose TAA, meaning it needs Democratic support for passage. 
 
 Securing passage of both the fast-track and worker assistance bills amounts to a victory for Obama as he seeks to finalize major trade pacts before he leaves office, including one with 11 Pacific Rim countries, that will set rules, regulations and tariffs for economic relations between an estimated 40 percent of the global economy. 
 
 Entering the day, there remained a question over whether House Democrats would scuttle passage of the worker aid bill to highlight their objections to the president’s broader trade agenda. 
 
 Pelosi’s announcement, however, likely put that issue to rest. 
 
 “While we may not all vote in the same manner on TAA, I will support its passage because it can open the door to a full debate on [the Trans-Pacific Partnership],” Pelosi wrote in a letter to House Democrats that was released Wednesday. 
 
 Pelosi went on to say that she is disappointed that the aid package covers a limited number of workers and it should be expanded. Her support is expected to sway a large portion of Democrats who voted against the bill earlier this month as part of an effort to sink the fast track trade authority legislation. 
 
 That maneuver successfully delayed the trade bills for several days and led to the latest strategy of separating the votes on fast-track and workers assistance. 
 
 The TAA bill won support from some labor groups that successfully lobbied Democrats to earlier oppose the legislation after it became clear that the Senate will clear the fast-track bill on Wednesday. The Alliance for American Manufacturing, a partnership between steelmakers and the United Steelworkers Union, wrote lawmakers on Wednesday urging a yes vote on TAA. 
 
 “We urge you to advance the Trade Preferences Extension Act, which will help to level the playing field for U.S. companies and American workers, and to ensure that it quickly becomes law,” the group wrote. 
 
 Read more PowerPost ||||| The Senate voted Wednesday to approve fast-track authority, securing a big second-term legislative win for President Obama after a months-long struggle. 
 
 The 60-38 Senate vote capped weeks of fighting over the trade bill, which pitted Obama against most of his party — including Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro PelosiOvernight Health Care: Medicaid's popularity on the ballot in four red states | GOP in a bind on pre-existing conditions | Pelosi urges Dems to push health message day before midterms Election Countdown: Trump frames midterm as referendum on presidency | Senate seats most likely to flip | Huge turnout raises Dem hopes | Controversy over Trump ad | Weather forecast has storm headed to key states | DOJ to monitor voting in 19 states On The Money: Robust economy drowned out by Trump's midterm message | Trump downplays talk of Dems demanding tax returns | Iran sanctions take effect | IRS sparks fight over school donations MORE (D-Calif.). 
 
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 Passage of the bill is also a big victory for GOP leaders in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellThe top Senate seats most likely to flip A voter guide for the 100 million who are not planning to vote Next Tuesday’s vote will determine the future of Social Security, Medicare MORE (R-Ky.) and Speaker John Boehner John Andrew Boehner The Hill’s 12:30 Report — Presented by the Counter Extremism Project — One day to midterms | Obama, Trump face off | High turnout raises Dem hopes Boehner calls for more marijuana reforms ahead of midterms The Hill's Morning Report — What if the polls are wrong? MORE (R-Ohio). The Republican leaders worked closely with an administration they have more frequently opposed to nudge the trade bill over the goal line. 
 
 Labor unions and liberal Democrats had fought hard against the authority and are likely to now turn their attention toward stopping the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade deal Obama is negotiating with 11 other Pacific Rim nations. 
 
 Fast-track, or trade promotion authority, will allow the White House to send trade deals to Congress for up-or-down votes. The Senate will not be able to filibuster them, and lawmakers will not have the power to amend them. 
 
 The expedited process, which lasts until 2018 and can be extended until 2021, greatly increases Obama’s chances of concluding negotiations on the TPP, which is a top goal of the president’s. 
 
 Fast-track stumbled twice before its final approval, and the struggles to move it through the House and Senate likely made the victory on Wednesday even sweeter. 
 
 “We had plenty of bumps along the road. Frankly, a few big potholes too,” McConnell said before the final vote. “But we worked across the aisle to get through all of them. That’s an example of a new Congress that’s back to work for the American people.” 
 
 The Senate on Wednesday also passed a trailer bill that includes trade preferences for African nations and a workers assistance program known as Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA). The measure passed by voice vote after advancing 76 to 22 on a procedural motion. 
 
 Senators voice-voted a motion to go to a conference with the House to resolve differences over customs and enforcement legislation passed by each chamber. That bill is a high priority of Democrats who view it as essential to enforcing trade rules. 
 
 Obama’s trade agenda almost ended up in a ditch earlier this month when House Democrats defeated TAA, which Senate Democrats had insisted move along with fast-track. 
 
 The House action unexpectedly kicked the trade debate back to the Senate, to the chagrin of pro-trade Democrats in the upper chamber who thought they had finished with the contentious issue. 
 
 A group of 14 swing Democrats came under heavy pressure from unions to 
 
 oppose fast-track after it became uncoupled from TAA. Labor officials argued that GOP leaders could not be trusted to get the worker assistance package through the House. 
 
 But McConnell and Boehner assured their Democratic partners that all four pieces of Obama’s trade agenda, 
 
 including the customs bill favored by Democrats and a package of trade preferences for African nations, would pass. 
 
 “The House will consider TAA once it passes the Senate as part of a new trade preferences bill. And we are ready to go to conference on the customs bill,” Boehner pledged in a statement Tuesday ahead of a procedural vote to 
 
 advance fast-track to a final vote. 
 
 To further entice wavering Democrats to back fast-track, McConnell added to the TAA package the Leveling the Playing Field Act, which empowers U.S. companies to petition the Commerce Department to respond to trade violations. 
 
 He also furnished for Democrats a letter signed by a group of Senate Republicans pledging to support TAA. 
 
 In the end, 13 of the 14 pro-trade 
 
 Democrats voted to advance fast-track to final passage, the same number who voted for a package that combined fast-track and TAA before Memorial Day. 
 
 Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) voted against ending debate on fast-track Tuesday and against final passage on Wednesday. 
 
 Pelosi, who led the effort to derail TAA earlier this month, signaled Wednesday that Democrats would accept it the second time. 
 
 “I’m disappointed that the TAA bill isn’t nearly as robust as it should be in light of a trade agreement that encompasses 40 percent of the global economy,” she wrote Wednesday in a Dear Colleague letter. “[But] while we may not all vote in the same manner on TAA, I will support its passage because it can open the door to a full debate on TPP.” 
 
 Obama fought during the battle with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who warned fast-track would enable companies to evade U.S. laws, including curbs on the financial services industry. 
 
 The critique rankled Obama, who counts the 2010 Wall Street Reform Act among his signature achievements, and he accused Warren of political grandstanding. 
 
 He said Warren is a “politician like everybody else” who has “a voice that she wants to get out there” but her arguments don’t stand the test of fact and scrutiny.” 
 
 His response did not sit well with other Democratic trade skeptics such as Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who called Obama’s comment “disrespectful” and suggested it was sexist as well. 
 
 Anti-trade Democrats say the battle now shifts to approval of the TPP, which will need only 50 votes to pass the Senate under the protections of fast-track. 
 
 “When the inexcusable and anti-democratic veil of secrecy surrounding the TPP is finally lifted and the American people see what is actually in the agreement, they are going to force their representatives in Washington to vote that deal down,” said Robert Weissman, the president of Public Citizen, an outspoken opponent of Obama’s trade agenda. 
 
 Mike Lillis contributed to this report. 
 
 This story was updated at 7:50 p.m.
– This might be why President Obama didn't seem overly concerned earlier this month when his bid for fast-track authority—seen as a major goal of his second term—seemed to be dead: It's not only not dead, it is now heading to the president's desk for his signature. The Senate today passed the measure by a vote of 60-38, thanks to some legislative maneuvering. The vote means that Obama has a much better chance of reaching a deal with other foreign leaders on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is opposed by many Democrats as a job-killer, reports the Hill. Because of fast-track, Congress will able to cast an up-or-down vote on the deal, but it won't be able to amend it. “Achieving this positive outcome was never going to be easy, but it proves that the power of a good idea, no matter where it comes from, can win out over the stasis of gridlock,” says Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who formed a rare alliance with Obama. The Senate is next expected to approve a companion measure called TAA that would provide help for Americans who lose their jobs because of the deal. TAA would then go to the House, and Nancy Pelosi greatly improved its chances by supporting it today, reports the Washington Post. Even if it fails, however, fast-track authority lives. Last time around, the two measures were linked, making it easier for Democrats to torpedo the entire thing.