The Rio Grande Valley will get some extra protection along the Texas-Mexico border with the deployment of Blackhawk helicopters.   U.S. Customs and Border Protection has made a decision to deploy two Blackhawk helicopters — the same ones used by the U.S. military — to the region, officials said.   U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said the Blackhawk helicopters are expected… Read more »

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar said he expected 25 to 30 fellow Democrats to approve Trade Promotion Authority, or “fast track,” in a vote Friday in the House of Representatives. “My guess has always been, I said this a month ago, that we’ll be between 25 and 30,” he said Thursday when asked how many Democrats would support the fast-track authority that would clear the way for a… Read more »

President Obama's trade agenda survived a bad scare in the House on Thursday when the GOP rule governing debate for the package narrowly survived a 217-212 vote. Thirty-four Republicans voted against the rule, while eight Democrats backed it. A handful of pro-trade Democrats withheld their votes, watching the tally closely from the floor. Then, when it was apparent Republicans would not… Read more »

Plans to vote Friday on Trade Promotion Authority and Trade Adjustment Assistance could still fall through, but the House is moving ahead on a multi-pronged strategy to send the measures to the president’s desk by the week’s end. The House on Thursday voted 217-212 on the rule that sets up votes on a bill to give President Barack Obama latitude to negotiate a 12-nation… Read more »

The Rio Grande Valley will get some extra protection along the Texas-Mexico border with the deployment of Blackhawk helicopters.   U.S. Customs and Border Protection has made a decision to deploy two Blackhawk helicopters — the same ones used by the U.S. military — to the region, officials said.   U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said the Blackhawk helicopters are expected… Read more »

Hours before one of the most consequential votes of President Barack Obama’s second term — whether to give him fast-track trade powers to clinch a sprawling Pacific Rim trade deal — Democrats and Republicans have no idea whether the votes are there to pass it. What they do know is that pockets of opposition from every corner of the House of Representatives has thrown the package into… Read more »

President Obama’s trade agenda is really hanging in the balance right now, as the bill giving him Fast Track authority to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal appears balanced on the edge of a knife in the House of Representatives. The latest: Dem Rep. Sander Levin — the ranking Democrat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, and a well-respected lawmaker on trade and… Read more »

June 11, 2015 President Obama is heading to the Capitol for a last-ditch effort to save his trade agenda, as two patchwork coalitions are aggressively whipping votes ahead of a suspenseful Friday showdown that features intense intra- and interparty fighting. Obama will arrive on the Hill at 9:30 a.m. to meet with lawmakers, according to a Democratic aide, illustrating the huge… Read more »

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama backs a corporate trade agenda because he no longer lives in the real world, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) charged Wednesday as Congress was set to take the next steps to give the president fast-track trade authority. Speaking at a press conference with activists and fellow Democrats who want to block Obama's push to sign massive trade pacts with… Read more »

Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX28) issues the following statement in response to U.S. Customs and Border Protection sending two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters to South Texas following a shooting involving a CBP helicopter on patrol in Laredo on June 5: “CBP plans to send two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters to south Texas in the wake of last Friday’s helicopter shooting incident. The… Read more »