The Republican-controlled U.S. Congress passed major trade legislation Wednesday that was long-sought by President Barack Obama but vehemently opposed by most lawmakers in his Democratic party.

The measure would allow Obama to negotiate global trade deals that Congress could approve or reject, but not change. The administration was seeking the "fast track" as it works to complete a round of trade negotiations involving 12 nations along both sides of the Pacific Ocean, including Japan.

The 12 participating nations in the current Pacific-based talks account for 40 percent of the world's economy, and include Japan, Malaysia, Australia, Canada and Mexico. China is not a member, and Obama says a ratified Pacific-rim pact will reassert the United States' muscular role in international standards for commerce, treatment of workers and the environment.

Obama's victory comes at a pivotal juncture in his second term. He is bracing for a Supreme Court ruling on his landmark health care law, and next week's deadline is approaching for reaching a deal on Iran's nuclear program.

The measure to strengthen Obama's hand in the Pacific Rim trade talks cleared the Senate on a vote of 60-38, and will go to the White House for his signature '€” less than two weeks after it was temporarily derailed in the House in an uprising of Democratic lawmakers.

A second bill, to renew an expiring program of federal aid for workers disadvantaged by imports, was on track to pass the Senate in short order. It would then go to the House, where a final vote was expected on Thursday.

The rapid sequence of events capped the end of a back-and-forth struggle that played out slowly over months, with Obama, Speaker John Boehner, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, both Republicans, on one side, and the union-backed Democratic leadership of the House and Senate on the other.

The pace accelerated dramatically less than two weeks ago, when House Democrats prevailed in an early showdown that sent the White House and congressional Republican leaders into a rescue operation.

On Wednesday, McConnell, a frequent Obama antagonist, praised the president and Democrats who joined the Republicans on the bipartisan measure vigorously sought by the nation's chief executive.

"We were really pleased to see President Obama pursue an idea we've long believed in," McConnell said. "We thank him for his efforts to help us pass a bill to advance it."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, the Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, hailed the measure as "the most important bill that will pass the Senate this year," and one that will prove to be an aid to the economy.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, countered shortly before the vote that it would be nothing of the sort. He said it would lead to "corporate handouts, worker sellouts," as he said had been the case with the North American Free Trade Agreement and other deals across the past two decades.

The issue of global trade had opened the most striking breach between a Democratic president and the lawmakers who overwhelmingly backed him on health care and other hard-fought issues. But the White House tried to cast a soft light on the division.

"We have Republican majorities in Congress working closely with Democratic minorities in Congress to build bipartisan support for legislation that then arrives on the desk of a Democratic president," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. That's how policy should be made "in an era of divided government," he told reporters.

House Democrats dealt Obama a humiliating rebuke on June 12, when they derailed his trade package only hours after he traveled to the Capitol to personally ask for their help. Republican leaders, with White House support, restructured the legislative package and passed its key elements with big GOP margins, plus modest Democratic support. (hhr)

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