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Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Wednesday that he expects Congress could take a June vote on the Colombian free trade agreement. Colombia is expected to complete its second batch of labor-related issue requirements by June 15, reaching a point at which the Obama administration will be prepared to formally submit the accord to Congress for a vote, Baucus said.

A top senator said on Wednesday he expected Congress to soon pass a free trade agreement with Colombia despite the continued strong opposition of the largest U.S. labor group. "We are now poised to approve our FTAs (free trade agreements) with Colombia, Panama and Korea," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said during a hearing on the Colombia agreement.

The Obama administration and Congress moved a step closer toward completing the long-delayed Colombia Free Trade Agreement last week by beginning informal discussions on implementing language, but at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Wednesday, a top administration trade official studiously avoided giving any date for submitting the agreement for ratification.

The Obama administration has not given labor groups an opportunity to review the documents that Colombia submitted last month to show it met an initial set of commitments under a labor action plan meant to pave the way for a vote on the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement in Congress, sources said.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Tuesday that his labor federation will likely score lawmakers' votes on three pending trade deals that the Obama administration is backing.