Nearly two dozen labor, environmental and Democratic Party opponents of the fast-track/Trans-Pacific Partnership deal deliver giant Q-tips to Rep. Ami Bera's office and explain how they can no longer support him because he betrayed them by supporting fast-track legislation.
The "yes" tally on fast-track trade legislation in the House of Representatives still hasn't reached the needed 217 for passage despite prodigious efforts by the White House to encourage enough Democrats to join the vast majority of House Republicans who favor it. Fast-tracking will expedite the president's negotiating of international trade agreements, retaining lawmakers' authority to review any deals, but giving them only an up-or-down vote, with no amendments or filibusters allowed.
Labor, many environmental advocates and the left in general oppose fast-tracking either because they don't want the president to have such a free hand or because past trade agreements have proven to cause damage to workers' health and safety and financial well-being, and to the environment. Foes argue that previously agreed-upon pacts like the North American Free Trade Agreement have cost the United States hundreds of thousands of good jobs, reduced the U.S. manufacturing base and contribute to lower wages in a "race to the bottom."
Most House Democrats oppose the fast-track measure, known formally as Trade Promotion Authority, H.R. 1314. Most House Republicans favor it. Its fate thus rests in the hands of Republican tea partiers who don't approve and a small number of mostly moderate Democrats who have publicly announced they will vote for the legislation. On Monday, as reported by Vicki Needham and Peter Schroeder at The Hill, Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington became the 19th Democrat to publicly declare in favor of the bill.
The Hill also picked 10 representatives who bear watching on fast-tracking. The 10: Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL); Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX); Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD); Rep. Joaquín Castro (D-TX); Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN); Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA); Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI); Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC); Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX); and Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL).
In public, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has struck a neutral position, even saying it's up to Speaker John Boehner to get the needed votes for fast-tracking. But a number of parties say that behind the scenes she is working "almost on a daily basis" to get more "yes" votes from her caucus. On her home turf, she's having a rough time of it. Of the 39 California Democrats in the state delegation in Congress, only Rep. Ami Bera has publicly stated he will vote for the bill. And he's taking hits for it already.
Read more on this below the fold.
California's economy would be the third largest in the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership if the state was included as its own country:
“There’s currently no reason to believe the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement would be any different from previous trade deals that have ripped hundreds of thousands of California workers from the middle class,” said Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation.
Meanwhile, President Obama himself came to California last week and gave interviews about trade and fast-tracking to broadcasters in San Diego and Sacramento as a means of providing political cover for any Democrats who wish to join Bera.
It's not just California representatives that Obama seeks to protect. As part of his jaw-boning and arm-twisting, the president is letting Democrats nationwide know that if they support him now, he'll be there for them in 2016 if labor and other foes of fast-tracking legislation come after them in the election. Whether that offer seems like a drop of honey or of poison depends on the candidate, of course. In 2014, many Democrats didn't want anything to do with Obama's support. But it's hard to turn down the backing of someone who can raise tons of money and provide "organizational muscle," said former long-time senior Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer.
Still no definitive word on when a vote will occur.
Please join us in calling or emailing representatives urging them to oppose fast-track legislation.
