Grassley Predicts Tai Confirmation Before Easter Break

Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said he doesn't expect U.S. trade representative nominee Katherine Tai to have a hearing before mid-March. Because there's nothing controversial about her, he said, if she does get a hearing before Congress takes its Easter break, he thinks the full vote can also be done within days. Grassley told reporters on a Feb. 16 phone call that when he spoke with Tai recently, he told her that “I appreciated this administration's approach to China, working to get Japan, South Korea, Europe, Canada, and the United States on the same page with China.” He said he also told her the United Kingdom free trade negotiations “ought to have priority.”