President pushes for more trade authority

CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- President Bush on Saturday urged the Senate to hand him more flexibility to negotiate trade pacts.

"The Senate should pass the pending trade legislation without delay," Bush said in his weekly radio address, calling on lawmakers to grant him trade promotion authority.

Referring to strong first-quarter economic growth numbers released Friday, Bush used the positive indicators as a jumping-off point to pitch for expanded trade.

"We want short-term recovery to become long-term expansion," he said

The legislation would give the president flexibility to negotiate international trade pacts. Congress would retain the authority to approve or reject the agreements, but not the power to change them. The House of Representatives approved trade promotion authority nearly five months ago, but the Senate has not taken a vote on the matter.

"The previous five presidents have had this authority," said Bush, but that authority expired eight years ago. "Passage of the (legislation) will give America's entrepreneurs and workers and farmers and ranchers a fair shot at the markets of the world."

Bush also pushed for renewal and expansion of the Andean Trade Preference Act, another measure passed by the House that awaits a vote in the Senate. The act provides preferential trade benefits for Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru and offers an economic alternative to drug-crop production in the Andean region.