From: John King/CNN White House Correspondent
In: Washington
Posted 10-30-97

Subject: White House Cautiously Optimistic On Fast Track

After weeks of worry, White House aides are voicing cautious optimism about winning passage of a major second-term priority of President Bill Clinton: approval of so-called "fast-track" authority to negotiate new trade agreements.

Clinton is spending part of his day Thursday putting the finishing touched on a Friday speech in which aides said he would throw presidential prestige behind the effort by making the case his economic strategy has worked, and that expanding international trade is a critical cog of that strategy.

Inside the White House, there remains a debate over just how tough to be in taking on critics of fast track -- most of them fellow Democrats and traditional White House allies like organized labor. One recommendation for Clinton, according to sources, is that he recount his own economic record and suggest that those who oppose him "have no strategy to protect American workers" from the challenges of the global economy.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich's decision to schedule a Nov. 7 vote on the proposal is one major source of the administration's optimism. And in meetings and conversations with wavering Democrats this week, administration officials report steady, if not overwhelming, progress in rounding up the 50 or so Democratic votes considered essential to winning passage.

By scheduling a vote, "Gingrich has put his neck out there, too, with Clinton," one administration official said. "You don't schedule a vote if you aren't planning on winning." Senate passage is considered almost assured.

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Thursday Oct. 30, 1997

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• Babbitt Allegations Trigger Independent Counsel Law
• Reno To Question Chinese Offical About Fund-Raising

Poll:
• Clinton, Gore Approval Ratings Move Up

E-mail From Washington:
• Deal Struck To Debate Campaign Reform Again
• House Fund-Raising Hearings To Resume Next Week
• White House Cautiously Optimistic On Fast Track