Jeff Merkley on Senate floor tells exactly what is wrong with our trade agreements
"We are creating a structure of a group of seven very poor nations with very low wages, five affluent nations with higher wages, and think about the difference between running an operation on the mound or Malaysia or Mexico, with a minimum wage of less than $2 an hour, and in Vietnam with a minimum wage of 60 to 70 cents depending on what part of the country you're in," Merkley said. "Think about the difference between that and the minimum wage in the United States. It is a 10-to-1 differential."
While Obama has claimed that the agreement contains tough environmental and labor standards, Merkley said that simply wasn't the case and that the TPP wasn't any different than other free trade agreements.
"In order to have something that was fundamentally different, we would have to have something like snap-back tariffs. A situation where a country deeply violated its promises on labor standards, deeply violated its promises on environmental standards, but there would be some sort of quick and certain reversal of the benefits of the trade agreement," Merkley said. "But there is nothing like that in this agreement. There is no change. So here we are repeating the same basic structure of the other agreements with no changes for America and therefore no improvement for the workers of the United States of America."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/23/jeff-merkley-tpp_n_7428894.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
But love him as my senator, and will make sure that I get to his summer barbecue again this year. He definitely deserves my contributions more than Wyden does, even if Wyden needs them more now. I think if I give to a senate campaign for 2016, it will be to DeFazio's campaign for a senate seat instead.
