Most trade agreements negotiated in the Fast track by the authority of the President of the United States may be approved or disapproved by Congress but cannot be amended. Congress grants the President fast-track negotiating authority.
Congress should be introduced with the implementing bill of the trade agreement transmitted by the President on the first day of the session. Senators and Representatives don’t have such privileges which allow for amending the President’s bill, either in committee or in the Senate or House. The committees have 45 days after the introduction of the bill to report it or be automatically discharged, and there are 15 days for each House to vote after the bill is reported or discharged.
In the case of a revenue bill, it must be originated from the House. There are another 15 days for the Finance Committee to report the House-passed bill or discharge it, and during the next 15 days, the Senate should pass the bill. Each Body of the House and the Senate can negotiate the bill for no more than 20 hours, and as a result, the bill is passed with a simple majority vote to avoid the filibuster of the bill. The whole process of passing the bill could take no longer than 90 days.
Fast-track trade promotion authority, or TPA, grants the U.S. president the right to negotiate trade agreements independent of congressional oversight. TPA is seen as a critical tool for facilitating trade liberalization by streamlining the complicated process of drawing up trade legislation.