H.R. 3830, named the “Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities Act of 2014” was introduced to Congress on January 9, 2014. The bill, nicknamed “Fast Track”, allows executive branch negotiators to skirt Congress and use “trade” agreements to rewrite policies that affect all aspects of our daily lives – from the stability of our jobs to the safety of our food.
Fast Track allows the executive branch to unilaterally select partner countries for “trade” pacts, decide the agreements’ contents, and then negotiate and sign the agreements — all before Congress has a vote on the matter. Normal congressional committee processes are forbidden, meaning that the executive branch can write lengthy legislation on its own with no review or amendments. These bills have in the past altered wide swaths of U.S. law seemingly unrelated to trade – food safety, immigration visas, energy policy, medicine patents and more – to conform our domestic policies to each agreement’s requirements. Unlike any other legislation, both the House and Senate are required to vote on a Fast Tracked trade agreement within 90 days of the White House submitting it. No floor amendments are allowed and debate is limited.
The current bill in question was introduced in the Democrat-controlled Senate last week by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and co-sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). The companion bill in the House was introduced by Republican Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, though it has so far received no Democratic co-sponsors with only his fellow GOP caucus members lining up in support. President Obama is asking Congress to grant him Fast Track’s extraordinary authority – in part to try to overcome growing public and congressional opposition to his controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) deal.
Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress is supposed to write the laws and set trade policy. For 200 years, these key checks and balances ensured that no one branch of government had too much power. But, over the last few decades, Democratic and Republican presidents alike have used the Fast Track mechanism to enact controversial “trade” pacts, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
I oppose H.R. 3830 and other Fast Track enabling legislation. These extraordinary procedures are not needed to approve trade agreements. We have had hundreds of less controversial U.S. trade agreements implemented without resorting to a dramatic shifting the balance of powers of the U.S. government. This bill seizes Congress’ constitutional prerogatives, “diplomatically legislates” non-trade policy, and preempts control of state policy.
The President cannot obtain Fast Track empowerment without a vote of Congress. President Clinton, renowned for trade expansion, only had Fast Track authority for two of his eight years in office due to congressional opposition. The last time Congress authorized Fast Track was in 2002, with a 3:30 am vote before a congressional recess where the bill was approved by just three votes. Since 2007, Congress has refused to authorize this extreme procedure, even after its proponents tried to escape Fast Track’s bad reputation by renaming it “Trade Promotion Authority.” Congress must not allow the executive branch to once again gain Fast Track’s undemocratic powers.
Lane Siekman, 1/27/14