The Bush administration yesterday formally asked House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) to renew the president’s authority to negotiate trade deals, days before the current authority expires.

In a letter to Rangel, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab warned that the U.S. would be “on the sidelines” without an extension of trade promotion authority (TPA), which expires Saturday.

“I appreciate your leadership in these matters and look forward to working with you and others in Congress to renew TPA,” Schwab wrote.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) credited the authority, known as “fast track,” for growing the U.S. economy. In a statement, he said President Bush’s request for an extension earlier this year “has fallen on deaf ears in the offices of the majority leadership,” and warned the Democrats’ “apparent blind spot” on trade could imperil the U.S. economy.

The ranking member on Ways and Means, Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.), who has worked closely with Rangel on trade, said a majority of his party would support an extension. McCrery said committee Republicans want to work with the majority to get as long an extension as possible.

Democrats, however, are divided on whether to consider even a limited extension of fast track for Bush. “Fast-track authority has been used to push bad agreements through Congress that have increased our trade deficit, cost us jobs and hurt our automobile industry and other manufacturers,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said in a statement.

Trade agreements with Peru, Panama, Colombia and South Korea may be considered under the existing fast-track law, which means they cannot be amended. All four deals have or will be signed before the existing law expires on Saturday.

Votes on the Peru and Panama deals are expected this year, but the Colombia and South Korea deals are more controversial with Democrats and face an uncertain future.