The Wall Street Journal-20080131-Credit Crunch- Bush Ties Trade Agenda to Faster Growth- President Pushes Deals With Colombia- Korea- A Prod on Stimulus Plan

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Credit Crunch: Bush Ties Trade Agenda to Faster Growth; President Pushes Deals With Colombia, Korea; A Prod on Stimulus Plan

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TORRANCE, Calif. -- Amid fresh signs of weakness in the U.S. economy, President Bush urged lawmakers to act rapidly to boost flagging economic growth.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Bush also highlighted expanded trade as a prescription for the nation's economic woes and stressed the need to help workers hurt by global competition.

Pointing to yesterday's report that the gross domestic product slowed to a crawl in the fourth quarter, Mr. Bush said, "We're obviously in a slowdown." He added that the economy has entered a period of "uncertainty" and said members of the Senate should vote quickly on the White House-backed economic-stimulus package, which cleared the House by a wide margin this week.

He said the Senate should give up efforts to expand the House's bipartisan $150 billion package. "I'm not trying to stifle anybody's ideas," he said. "I'm just trying to get something done quicker."

At the same time, Mr. Bush stressed that American exporters -- among the strongest performers in the shaky economic environment -- would benefit from approval of the rest of his trade agenda, which includes proposed deals with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, the world's 10th-largest economy.

Mr. Bush urged lawmakers on Capitol Hill, where skepticism runs high about trade, to act soon on the hotly debated Colombia deal. Offering a carrot, he added that he is open to moving at the same time on legislation that would overhaul government assistance for workers who lose their jobs as a result of foreign competition.

"We can do both, by the way," Mr. Bush said. "We can debate trade agreements and come up with effective trade-adjustment programs."

Mr. Bush is in the midst of a campaign-style push to build on the themes he outlined in the State of the Union address Monday, beginning a "sprint to the finish," as he put it, as he enters the final months of his second term in office.

On Tuesday, Mr. Bush visited Baltimore to talk about continued federal support for faith-based initiatives. In Las Vegas today, Mr. Bush will talk about the U.S.-led war on terror. And yesterday in Torrance, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles, Mr. Bush visited a manufacturing plant operated by Robinson Helicopter Co.

"Free trade means good-paying jobs for Americans," Mr. Bush told workers on the Robinson plant floor. "Congress needs to pass these agreements for the sake of economic vitality."

Since taking office, Mr. Bush has made expanded trade a top priority. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the administration helped launch the Doha Round of global trade talks, which are ongoing. And it has secured a series of deals -- including the Central American Free Trade Agreement -- that lowered barriers to trade and bound the U.S. economy tightly with more than a dozen different countries.

But while barriers have fallen, public skepticism about trade has soared, reflecting rising concern that American workers are at a disadvantage when competing with developing countries, where low regulation and cheap labor costs have lured tens of thousands of American manufacturing jobs offshore.

In the interview, Mr. Bush said it would be a "strategic blunder" not to pass the deal with Colombia.

While critics say lawmakers shouldn't rush to approve a deal until Colombia shows more progress in easing violence against labor organizers, Mr. Bush portrays Colombia as one of the nation's closest allies in Latin America and a counterweight to anti-American sentiments being sown by Venezuela. "This is an important vote," Mr. Bush said. "We're working it hard."

Finding common ground with Democrats on overhauling the government's program for workers who lose their jobs as a result of foreign competition could help build new support among lawmakers. The issue has been a point of increasing friction between the White House and Congress for several months.

Last fall, Mr. Bush threatened to veto a bill backed by Democrats that would have increased the number of workers able to qualify for assistance, bringing service workers into the program for the first time. The bill also would have loosened eligibility requirements.

In the interview, Mr. Bush said his "main goal" is to ensure federal assistance goes to workers who lose their jobs as a result of trade. He also said he would like to see a greater involvement by community colleges in retraining and wants to see improvements to the delivery of benefits. "I'd like to see our workers be given more say about where they spend their money," he said.

Some Democrats, including Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus of Montana, have suggested they won't act on trade deals until legislation overhauling the worker-assistance programs in wrapped up.

Mr. Bush played down the idea that both initiatives would be tied together -- or considered in any specific order. But he emphasized his hope to work with Congress to resolve differences on worker assistance, while also working on the trade agreements. "They both stand on their own -- they're both important issues," Mr. Bush said. "The Colombia free trade agreement stands on its own merits. Helping workers who have lost jobs because of trade stands on its own merits."