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Grassley says TPP faces “difficult” road in Congress

The Obama Administration faces a big challenge in convincing Congress to ratify the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, according to Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley.

“I think it’s going to be very, very difficult to get it through, based upon opposition that was expressed during the month of June when we had this up here,” Grassley says, “and I think it will be particularly difficult in the House of Representatives, more so than in the Senate.”

Much of the opposition to TPP is expected to come from the President’s own party. But some Republicans are also expressing concerns.

The Washington Post reports that Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, is upset over concessions made by U.S. negotiators on pharmaceutical patents. U.S. law allows 12 years of patent-style protections, but the final agreement is reportedly closer to the five years allowed under Australian law.

Grassley, who is also a Republican, says he shares Hatch’s concerns.

“To get a drug to market, it costs about a billion dollars,” Grassley says, “and the extent to which there’s a lessening of protection for intellectual property, the less money that’s coming in, the less money that’s going to be available for research.”

But Grassley says he will look at the whole agreement before deciding how he will vote.

AUDIO: Excerpts from Grassley’s conference call with ag reporters 10/6/15