The top U.S. trade official predicted confidently Tuesday that Congress will pass free trade agreements (FTAs) with South Korea, Colombia and Panama in September.

In a speech at a Bretton Woods Committee meeting, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said a "framework" for a deal on the controversial Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) is already in place.

President Barack Obama is pushing to renew the worker aid program. He included the TAA in an implementing bill on the FTA with South Korea. But congressional Republicans, opposed to the extension of the TAA, call for a separate approach.

"We believe we have a framework for an agreement that will allow us very quickly when Congress convenes in September to approve and have a vote on Trade Adjustment Assistance and allow us to move forward with passage of the free trade agreements at the same time," he said, according to his office.

Kirk did not elaborate.

Obama initially sought to win ratification of the long-pending FTAs before Congress enters summer recess on Aug. 5. But he has been preoccupied with a partisan fight over federal debt limit.

Kirk's comments marked the first formal confirmation by a top government official of a new strategy to seek the ratification of the FTAs when lawmakers return in September after a month-long break. (Yonhap News)