One of the top Bush administration priorities in 2002 was to acquire "fast track" authority. This authority would empower the president to negotiate a trade bill and then submit it to Congress for approval without changes. Only an "up or down" vote on the entire trade agreement would be allowed. Fast track made its way through Congress attached to a bill that also reduced a wide variety of import tariffs and extended a program of aid to workers displaced by trade agreements. But fast track was always the most contentious provision. Progressives disliked fast track, and much of the bill, because it threatened hard-fought protections for workers and the environment. The vote at issue here was on a motion to proceed to consideration of the final version of the bill. Because a "yes" vote was a vote to move closer to final passage, it was also a vote for the bill itself. With Progressives voting "no" on this motion to proceed, the motion passed, 66-33.