Washington ? A half-century-old program that helps workers who lose their jobs to foreign trade holds the key to whether Congress may finally approve three long-delayed free trade agreements viewed by both the Obama White House and congressional Republicans as a way to invigorate the economy and create jobs.

It’s a classic Washington trade-off.

Many Democrats don’t like the trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama but are open to votes if Congress extends expired provisions of the Kennedy-era Trade Adjustment Assistance program, or TAA. Republicans are cool to TAA but won’t object as long as the trade deals are completed.

President Barack Obama has often extolled the benefits of the three trade accords originally signed during the George W. Bush administration. But he has refrained from submitting them to Congress until he gets assurances that expanded aid continues for workers who lost their jobs because of trade.

The Senate on Monday took up a routine bill giving poorer countries access to U.S. markets, with the intent to attach the trade adjustment provisions for affected workers to that bill as an amendment. If all goes as planned, the Senate will pass the bill and send it to the House, which would consider it along with the three free trade accords. The Senate too would vote on the trade deals.

In a sign that a strong majority of senators were on board with this aid-and-trade formula, the Senate voted 84-8 to sidestep the first legislative hurdle to considering the bill for developing countries.

“Opening new markets for our farmers, ranchers and businesses will be a major boost to our economy and support hundreds of thousands of jobs here at home, but it has to be done in a way that puts American jobs first,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, who supports the trade adjustment program.

The program, run by the Labor Department, provides retraining and financial aid to workers who lost or may lose jobs to foreign trade. The Labor Department says the average age of participants is 46, with an average of more than 12 years of experience in a job that may no longer exist. Two-thirds of those eligible for aid are non-union members, according to the agency.