The Wall Street Journal is all excited about the latest deal between some Corpadems and Repubs in the Senate:
The Wall Street Journal
A Lift for Free Trade
The Hatch-Wyden compromise deserves Congress’s approval.
April 16, 2015 7:13 p.m. ET
The big news Thursday was that Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee had reached a deal to produce a compromise bill that would give President Obama the ability to negotiate free-trade agreements with the rest of the world. The deeper news, in our view, is that there are still Members of Congress fighting free trade’s progress, even as the clouds darken over the global economy. Consider:
Hell yeah there is opposition. A secret 'deal' in Congress to provide cover for the secretly negotiated TTP.
http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/...
Fight looms in Congress as many Democrats oppose fast-track trade authority
Michael Lindenber
ger Email mlindenberger@dallasnews.com
Published: April 16, 2015 6:11 pm
WASHINGTON–America’s largest companies cheered Thursday’s introduction in the Senate of a bipartisan bill granting President Obama the trade negotiation authority he’s asked for. Not cheering? Members of the President’s own party, especially in the House, who say the bill would cede too much authority to the presidency and fast-track what they say could be a disastrous free trade deal with Asia.
Thursday’s bipartisan bill would grant trade promotion authority to the president, who has said he wants to use it to speed approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The authority means that trade deals worked out by the executive branch can only be approved or rejected, but not edited, once they are submitted to Congress.
As MB posted earlier there were
6 Dem Senators unhappy with the 'compromise' plan. Wyden's bandaid to 'retrain' displaced workers is a non-starter. Ask my brother whose good middle class union factory job went south after NAFTA passed, and the retraing he received was for entry level jobs that flat did not exist. He's working night retail stocking, didn't lose his house but has had bouts with depression and alcoholism along with his financial challenges.
Republicans in teh House Represent Your District?
There are quite a few Dems in the House against any effort to Fast Track, but now is the time for those in Republican districts to join in as well:
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., said the ability to kill the bill in 2015 will likely come down to Republican members of the tea party or other populists.
“The key is whether we see organization and opposition among the Republican populists,” he said.
Several House members predicted that will happen. Among the reasons they believe some Republicans will oppose the bill and the TPP: The former cedes too much constitutional authority to the executive branch, they said. What’s more, the TPP would put too much downward pressure on wages for American workers and give foreign companies the right to protest environmental laws without having to sue in U.S. courts.
But for big business, the trade authority makes sense no matter who is in the White House. America’s largest companies see the prospect of easier trade with some of the largest and fastest-growing economies in the world as a major plus.
Oh. Big business sees it as a major plus. Greattttt. BB, with the CEO's already rolling in dough in the 'recovery', who pay few taxes and high wads of cash offshore instead of creating jobs here. Yeah, they absolutely would LOVE what we have learned is a stepping stone to multinational corp rule against environmental and labor regulations.
So if you live in a Republican represented district, call. Dem district, call. Write a letter to the editor. Congratulate those who are opposing Fast Track. Protect our chance to have Congressional debate on TPP!
From Fight For the Future
https://www.stopfasttrack.com/
Congress: Don't betray democracy!
No "Fast Track" for the TPP!
Congress is pushing legislation right now that would "Fast Track" the Trans-Pacific Partnership—a secretive agreement negotiated behind closed doors by government bureaucrats and more than 600 corporate lobbyists. It threatens everything you care about: democracy, jobs, the environment, and the Internet.[Learn More]