On Tuesday, ABC’s World News Tonight and the CBS Evening News chose to ignore news that Senate Democrats voted to block debate on a series of trade measures pushed by President Barack Obama as part of a push to eventually approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.
Earlier in the day, the Senate failed to reach 60 votes with a 52-45 margin that killed debate on a series of trade measures with only one Democratic Senator in Tom Carper (Del.) voting with Senate Republicans in an attempt to push the deal forward. Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) joined with Senate Democrats to preserve the chance that it could be brought up again.
While ABC and CBS made no mention of this issue that has divided the Democratic Party, NBC Nightly News did cover the story with a news brief by interim anchor Lester Holt. Holt billed the failed vote as “[a] major setback today for one of President Obama’s top economic priorities” that “was delivered by the President’s own party.”
In addition, Holt declared that “[t]his was a rare situation where most Republicans agreed with President Obama [in] supporting expanded trade agreements” whereas “many congressional Democrats say they want more protections for American workers.”
He closed the 31-second brief with this observation: “The defeat is a sign of the tension between the President and the most progressive wing of his own party.”
Along with multiple mentions throughout the day on CNN, the Fox News Channel (FNC), MSNBC and PBS, National Public Radio (NPR) brought up the broader debate on trade in the form of an interview with prominent TPP opponent and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren (Mass.). Needless to say, Warren’s comments were less than laudatory toward the President.
Speaking with Steve Inskeep, Warren tore into Obama for “asking us to vote to grease the skids on a trade deal that has largely been negotiated but that is still held in secret” and wanting to negotiate multi-year deals when he’s in office “for only 18 more months.”
With such disagreement in the Democratic Party, it’s worth pointing out that the network newscasts would likely be spending far more time reporting on and analyzing such a split if it involved Senate Republicans voting to block an initiative of a Republican president.
The transcript of the brief that aired on May 12's NBC Nightly News is transcribed below.
NBC Nightly News
May 12, 2015
7:09 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: White House Setback]
LESTER HOLT: A major set back today for one of President Obama's top economic priorities and the blow was delivered by the President's own party. Today, the majority of Senate Democrats broke with the White House and blocked the start of debate on a package of trade-related deals. This was a rare situation where most Republicans agreed with President Obama, supporting expanded trade agreements, but many congressional Democrats say they want more protections for American workers. The defeat is a sign of the tension between the President and the most progressive wing of his own party.
