Next week, an institution once revered as “the world’s greatest deliberative body” will be asked to foreclose its ability to have meaningful deliberations about what will, predictably, be a deeply flawed international trade treaty.

The accord in question is the as-yet-incomplete Trans-Pacific Partnership. And the United States Senate is being pressed by both its Republican and Democratic leadership to give President Obama what amounts to a blank check to agree to cut whatever trade deal he wants.

It is simply unbelievable that anybody — and most especially GOP lawmakers — would even contemplate giving this president so-called “Fast-Track Authority” on the TPP. His serial failures to negotiate fair prisoner swaps, sound arms control agreements or sensible diplomatic normalizations neither inspires confidence nor warrants Congress turning its check-and-balance role into a blank check.