After President Obama sent trade agreements with Colombia, Korea and Panama to Congress on Monday, things began moving
quickly:
The House Ways and Means Committee gave its stamp of approval to the three pacts on Wednesday and the Senate Finance Committee is expected to approve the deals on Tuesday.
Both the House and the Senate are planning to vote on the agreements on Wednesday. Politicians in both parties claim that the deals will lead to massive numbers of new jobs, but of course we've been through this enough times to know better. In fact, the EPI estimates that trade agreements with Colombia and Korea will cost the U.S. 214,000 jobs. Additionally, by voting for the deal with Colombia, Congress will be putting its seal of approval on free trade with a country that has essentially declared open season on anyone who dares support a union in their workplace.