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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIn Letters to Obama, 151 House Democrats, Bloc of GOP Announce Opposition to ‘Fast Track’ Trade Auth
WASHINGTON, D.C. A letter sent today to President Barack Obama opposing Fast Track authority, signed by 151 House Democrats, signals the end of a controversial Nixon-era procedure used to railroad contentious trade pacts through Congress. Obama has asked Congress to delegate to him its constitutional trade authority via Fast Track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other pacts.
The signers of the letter show the breadth and depth of Democratic House opposition to Fast Track. Signers include:
18 of 21 full committee ranking members and 72 subcommittee ranking members;
Leadership members including Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn; Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Steve Israel; Steering and Policy Committee Co-Chairs Rosa DeLauro and Rob Andrews; and 35 of 48 Democratic Steering and Policy Committee members;
19 of the short list of Democrats who voted for the 2011 U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement;
26 of the 51 members of the New Democrat Coalition, and 8 of the 14 members of the Blue Dog Coalition; and
36 of 42 House members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and 13 of 19 House members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
On Tuesday, 25 House Republicans members announced their opposition to Fast Track, and most Democratic Ways and Means Committee members joined a letter noting that the old Fast Track process enjoys little support. Even prominent supporters of past trade agreements who did not sign these letters recently have voiced their opposition to Fast Track.
These letters make clear that Fast Track is history, said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizens Global Trade Watch. When Nixon cooked up this scheme 40 years ago, trade pacts covered only tariffs. Now, deals like the TPP could rewrite wide swaths of U.S. policy, currently under the control of Congress, from food safety and financial regulation to Buy American procurement to energy policy.
more
http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/pressroomredirect.cfm?ID=4021
Scuba
(53,475 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)... sure this preceeds the release?
Sure feels like the politicians were reacting.
cali
(114,904 posts)in both houses but particularly in the House
Swede Atlanta
(3,596 posts)This is the worst possible thing for the U.S.
The more I read about this proposal it would decimate American workers but enrich their corporate masters even more.
We must say No, No and HELL No to this abomination.
Obama, we know you are listening into every phone conversation and e-mail so here is a straight communication that even you as someone from Chicago can understand NO!!!
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)BelgianMadCow
(5,379 posts)Made my day, thank you!
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
City Lights
(25,171 posts)Made my day!
HijackedLabel
(80 posts)Makes me conflicted until the President addresses the concerns himself.
He has a way of explaining things that special interests get wrong in the blogs and on the talk shows passing themselves off as news programs.
I'm not a proponent or opponent of the TPP. I don't know enough about it, but there seems to a lot of special interests trying to spread propaganda against it while the proponents are largely secretive and contribute to the disinformation by looking suspicious.
BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)They should be opposed to this mostly for the same reasons we are. Yeah, I know they don't give a shit about the environment. But they really should be concerned about the impact on jobs.
HijackedLabel
(80 posts)I agree, sadly.
progressoid
(49,825 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)The Tea Party is not going to like the state law override provisions, either.
But honestly, I don't think the Tea Party is that big. It's powerful beyond its size because of its backers. And its backers are the same ones who back TPP.
If we're going to reach out somehow, we may as well reach out to all Americans.
Again, though, how?
Our media stink. I don't know anyone who can make a big donation. Etc.
BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)At minimum, we ought to be able to use this to let the rank and file Tea Party people see just how much they have been used.
ljm2002
(10,751 posts)...and a lot of the Republican opposition to NSA's spying overreaches was also from the Tea Party. So? That doesn't make them wrong on those issues.
The reason you don't know enough about it, is that negotiations have been kept secret -- even from our Senators and Representatives in Congress, while allowing over 600 representatives from the private sector participate actively in negotiations. That in itself is enough to reject it IMO.
But if you do want to know more about it, here is a link to the Trade Secret part of the treaty as it currently stands, courtesy of Wikileaks:
http://wikileaks.org/tpp/static/pdf/Wikileaks-secret-TPP-treaty-IP-chapter.pdf
Enjoy.
roody
(10,849 posts)agreement in my adult life that was good for workers.
LuvNewcastle
(16,820 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)I would be very interested in what special interests are spreading propaganda against it.
Raksha
(7,167 posts)That hasn't happened in a long time.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)Not meaning to imply that you, as an individual, are ordinary, but you know what I mean.
We're the one group that no one in Washington represents.
Even if the rich supposedly pay most of the money that goes into the Treasury, I've started to wonder why I'm paying any taxes at all.
AzDar
(14,023 posts)horrified and confused. WTF, Barack?
Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)And this issue isn't the only one that has made this president furrow my brow.
BelgianMadCow
(5,379 posts)making what the House thinks less relevant/critical? I'm looking at Wikipedia, but it's not clear how an administration gets this authority.
n2doc
(47,953 posts)KoKo
(84,711 posts)n2doc
(47,953 posts)The article clearly points out that these sorts of agreements are tax policy, not diplomacy, and this must be agreed upon by both houses of Congress.
avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)DireStrike
(6,452 posts)No filibuster in the house.
Phlem
(6,323 posts)We need movement on this!
-p
red dog 1
(27,648 posts)This is definitely good news!
MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)And while that means that little will get done in the next 3 years, it will also prevent some serious damage like the TPP and cutting strengthening Social Security.
Hopefully we can also slow the NSA until we have an Executive that can end their mischief.
AAO
(3,300 posts)PuraVidaDreamin
(4,094 posts)Hoping that is their next letter!
PuraVidaDreamin
(4,094 posts)Dear Debra,
Thank you for contacting me about trade promotion authority (TPA).
As you may know, under TPA (or "Fast Track" authority), Congress agrees to expedited consideration of legislation that implements a trade agreement and agrees to vote on such legislation without amendment. In turn, the President must consult regularly with Congress and let Congress help define negotiating objectives. TPA expired in 2007, and it is up to Congress to decide whether to renew it.
I believe Congress must play a substantial role in crafting trade policy. The Constitution gives Congress the power to "regulate commerce with foreign nations," and Congress should not hastily cede that power because of the enormous impact that trade agreements have on our economy. They affect access to foreign markets and a wide variety of public policy issues - everything from wages, jobs, the environment, and the Internet to monetary policy, pharmaceuticals, and financial services.
On June 13, 2013, I sent a letter urging U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman to support increased transparency in negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). I asked him to immediately make public the bracketed text of the TPP, or at least make available a scrubbed version of the bracketed text like the Bush Administration did in 2001 during the negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Unfortunately, Mr. Froman refused to commit to making this information available to the public. I will keep pushing in this direction because I believe transparency is critical in allowing for Congress and the American people to have a voice in the negotiations.
Thank you again for reaching out to me on this issue, and I hope that you will continue to keep me informed about issues that are important to you.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Warren
United States Senator
Armstead
(47,803 posts)supposedly being negotiated and signed in OUR names.
boomersense
(147 posts)is very difficult to read and understand--at least for me. From what I understand of it, if fully enacted it ends the countries that sign it their sovereignty. We would in effect be slaves. And letters to Bernie Sanders would be useless.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)boomersense
(147 posts)dddddd
merrily
(45,251 posts)This is just the cherry on top.
Make that near the top. I'm sure they are already working on something that will be even worse.
Raksha
(7,167 posts)That's why the teabaggers are against, and why progressives should be against it too. There ARE still a few issues that transcend partisan politics, and this is one of them. What American citizen would want to surrender America's sovereignty to a multinational global cartel?
As someone pointed out on another thread, the TPP goes beyond corporate personhood and is a big step towards corporate nationhood. That's the real reason for the unprecedented level of secrecy.
boomersense
(147 posts)monstrosity and not get slapped down like the girl did this morning. TPP is pure Inverse Fascism. By inverse I mean the head is the corporations rather than the politicos, like is more normal.
merrily
(45,251 posts)in Washington is a different question.
peacebird
(14,195 posts)Armstead
(47,803 posts)Kickity
n/t
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)The American people, indeed all the people of the world, are not party to this agreement. It was negotiated in secret and an attempt will be made rush it through the ratification process with little debate.
The fact that there was so much secrecy in the negotiating the agreement is reason enough to oppose it. Usually, data is classified to keep enemies from knowing military secrets. However, this is a trade deal, not the MolotovRibbentrop Pact. I do not understand what there is about a trade deal that needed to be kept secret.
However, we suspected all along that the Trans-Pacific Partnership was an agreement among a motley collection of corporate fascists to undermine democracy. The enemies who had to be kept in the dark about what these polluters, crooked bankers, arms merchants, Frankenfood manufacturers and bought politicians had agreed were none other than the people of world themselves. This agreement benefits no one but the greedy and self-important.
To paraphrase President Eisenhower speaking of the Geneva Accords that brought about an end to the French Indochina War, since we are not a party to this agreement, we are not bound by it. And indeed, like the US government in the years following the Geneva Accords, we will do everything we can to subvert the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
We will not be told the we have no right to expect that our elected representatives in our parliaments and legislatures will act to abate pollution, provide for public health, regulate markets and assure workers of fair wages and safe working conditions while there and that they will like comfortably and independently after each one of them retires.
The natural resources of the earth belong to us, living people made of flesh and blood. Corporations have no rights other than those we deem fit to give them. Please tell some arrogant corporate executives that we have a right to enjoy access to water and anyu other resource necessary to sustain life; Nestle's Corporation does not. Nestle's Corporation has nothing more than the right to stay in business so long as they pull an honest profit, and we are the ones who decide what is honest.
One that last thought. I would like to tell you corporations to get fucked, but it wouldn't do any good. It might if you were real people, but as artificial persons getting fucked won't make you happy or put you in a better disposition. Perhaps that why it flatters you to be thought rapacious. Now, artificial persons, bow to your flesh and blood masters.
Peace, justice and human brotherhood.
Armstead
(47,803 posts)Change has come
(2,372 posts)beautiful!
Oilwellian
(12,647 posts)which Democrats didn't sign the letter and ask them why.
I wouldn't let my guard down on this just yet.
GoneFishin
(5,217 posts)Overseas
(12,121 posts)KG
(28,749 posts)malthaussen
(17,066 posts)Ccarmona
(1,180 posts)Only because he is guilty of being President while being black.
That said, he's still one of them. As to those on the right that insist he's a Marxist, Socialist, etc. are just ignorant to what those words mean.
Yavapai
(825 posts)So, it looks like President Obama is just one more in a long list of corporate whores.
The 1% corporate elite have the American people divided over issues like abortion, gun rights and such, while they take us from democracy to fascism. As repugnant as it seems, we best start having a dialog with the tea party and take back control of the USA.
liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)cascadiance
(19,537 posts)... and a more "moderate" Oregon Dem rep, Kurt Schrader did. Must be that Nike and some other big corps from the west side of Portland were putting pressure on her to stop her from doing so. I think we should all send thanks to those who did vote for this and use examples of how even less progressive Dems like Shrader voted for it as a way to put more constituent pressure on those who didn't to step up the next time a vote like this comes up. We will need their votes in the future for other similar measures.
tblue
(16,350 posts)R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)colsohlibgal
(5,275 posts)Obama apologists would have a Hell of a time trying to rationalize their guy wanting to ram this through using fast track.
Hillary is a corporate type democrat as well, but she'd do well to read the tea leaves. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Alan Grayson, Jeff Merkley, they have the pulse of where the majority of us are.
There is one statement I agree with Tea party types about - we do need to reclaim our country. They're just misguided as to what the problem is.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)My understanding is that parts of TPP allow businesses to override state law. If so, don't at least our state legislatures and Governors owe it to us to speak up on that issue? Maybe our Mayors and City Councillors as well?
I'm very dubious that online petitions or contacting anyone in Washington does anything. But I think, say, a mayor or a state rep can't afford to be too indifferent to constituents. Besides, they might actually care about this for their own sakes.
ctsnowman
(1,903 posts)congress person Joe Courtney signed.