How impeachment helped push surprise progress on trade

Agreement on a new trade deal and a defense authorization bill show bipartisan progress is possible even amidst the polarizing effects of the impeachment inquiry.

Suddenly, Washington is getting things done in bipartisan fashion. And that’s in spite of – or perhaps because of – the thoroughly partisan effort to impeach President Donald Trump.

Democrats and Republicans, in Congress and the White House, are under pressure to show accomplishments as a politically tumultuous year draws to a close and the 2020 election cycle ramps up.

Now, as the dust settles following a day of big news, there seems to be something for almost everybody: House Democrats have unveiled two articles of impeachment against President Trump, charging him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress over his dealings with Ukraine. And bipartisan agreement has been reached on two major pieces of legislation, a new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement and the largest defense funding bill in American history.

If nothing else, the two major bipartisan agreements could help alleviate Americans’ growing sense that national institutions, including the federal government, are failing them.

The trade deal, which replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, hands President Trump bragging rights on one of his signature campaign issues – an issue that speaks directly to blue-collar workers, many of whom abandoned the Democratic Party in 2016 and voted for Mr. Trump.

But to some political analysts, it’s a risk Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had to take. And, they add, in the process she won concessions on matters dear to the labor movement.