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Why Obama Is Wrong and Warren Is Right on Trade Bill Quarrel
Elizabeth Warren has warned leery Democrats that a fast-track trade bill could undo U.S. laws such as the Dodd-Frank banking regulations later. A number of constitutional scholars and other legal experts say shes right.May 15, 2015 4:43 PM ED
In her quarrel with President Barack Obama over trade legislation, Elizabeth Warren has got the law on her side.
The Massachusetts senator has warned fellow Democrats that a fast-track trade bill now in Congress could undo U.S. laws such as the Dodd-Frank banking regulations later. A number of constitutional scholars and other legal experts say shes right.
The reason: An arcane trade-bill provision that would make it easier for a future president and Congress to undercut existing statutes, even ones with little to do with trade.
The risk to Dodd-Frank is real and meaningful and worth worrying about, said Michael Barr, Obamas former assistant Treasury secretary for financial institutions and an architect of the financial law. Barr said a hostile president might weaken the law through other means, such as a legislative assault or regulatory maneuvers.
The fight pits two of the most popular Democrats in the country against one another. Obamas support of fast-track trade authority and regional free-trade deals under negotiation with Pacific Rim and European nations places him sharply at odds with most of his party.
more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-05-15/warren-claim-that-trade-bill-could-undermine-dodd-frank-is-right?cmpid=BBD051815%22
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Why Obama Is Wrong and Warren Is Right on Trade Bill Quarrel (Original Post)
Purveyor
May 2015
OP
Could include? The article is mistaken. It should state 'WILL include provisions to undercut...'
sorechasm
May 2015
#1
It's not as if our policy makers have ever been 'irresponsible' in the past. Have they?
sorechasm
May 2015
#2
sorechasm
(631 posts)1. Could include? The article is mistaken. It should state 'WILL include provisions to undercut...'
Warren says shes concerned that Republicans could include provisions in a future trade deal undercutting Dodd-Frank. They could then pass it with a simple majority in the U.S. Senate because the fast-track bill would prevent Democrats from blocking the legislation through a filibuster. Normally, it takes 60 votes to break a filibuster.
Republicans would never miss such an opportunity.
sorechasm
(631 posts)2. It's not as if our policy makers have ever been 'irresponsible' in the past. Have they?
I dont think policy makers are that irresponsible, said William Krist, a trade official in President Ronald Reagans administration and now a senior scholar at the Wilson Center, a congressionally chartered research institute in Washington.
Meanwhile...
European officials and financial industry executives are itching to loosen key requirements the Dodd-Frank law established to reduce the threat of another financial collapse, Barr said. Their targets include regulations on derivatives trading by bank affiliates outside the U.S.; a ban on proprietary trading, named after former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker; and the rules on capital requirements, he said.