I wish I could tell you that the headline tells the whole story, but it does not. As good as it felt to see fast track sent packing, I fear it was only a temporary victory that we won only because Bought Bitch Mitch tried to pull a fast one by welching on the deal Republicans made with a handful of Senate Democrats.
Divisive trade promotion authority legislation the White House is seeking to put the Trans-Pacific partnership on a fast-track to passage ran off the rails today, with the United States Senate voting mostly along party lines not to invoke cloture on the bill. The legislation could still come up again, but at least for the time being, it is blocked, much to the displeasure of Mitch McConnell and Barack Obama.
Fifty-two senators voted to proceed to final passage on the bill, not counting McConnell, who switched his vote from yes to no so that he could bring the legislation up again later. Forty-four senators voted to filibuster.
Although a number of Democrats support granting President Obama the fast-track authority he wants (including, unfortunately, the Pacific Northwest’s Patty Murray, Maria Cantwell, and Ron Wyden), they all voted to filibuster today, with the lone exception of Thomas Carper of Delaware.
The reason? Leverage. Fast-track is a major priority for Mitch McConnell, the top Senate Republican. He wants it bad. Knowing this, Democrats insisted that McConnell bring up three other semi-related pieces of trade legislation as well.
The first, called Trade Adjustment Assistance, is meant to help workers who find themselves out of work due to foreign competition. Another pertains to custom and trade enforcement, and has provisions concerning currency manipulation. The third would set up trade preferences for nations in sub-Saharan Africa.
McConnell refused to bring up the latter two bills, and so the Democrats stuck together and filibustered the fast-track bill…
Inserted from <The Cascadia Advocate>
Click through for the rest. The Author did a fine job.
Chris Hayes also covered this quite well, interviewing Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and economist Joseph Stieglitz.
I do agree with them. As much as I’d like TPP to fail permanently, I fear that out best hope is to get a modified version, with provisions to safeguard US workers.
11 Responses to “Democrats Rejected Fast Track”
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Unfortunately, that was yesterday. Today:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/05/13/senate-reaches-deal-to-move-fast-track-trade-authority/
Thanks for the link, Joanne. It appears we will be sold out, yet again.
Oh, dear me, Joanne D.! If course they are finding a way to bring it up again! Art!
The TPP should be embalmed and buried with no fanfare!
I was so encouraged with the House vote today. Now I am in doubt. If McConnell supports it, it is not good news for the middle class or the poor. I have not always agreed with Obama, but thought he had the best interests of the country at heart. His drive to pass the TPP makes me wonder if I have been wrong on that.
I do not understand why President Obama seems to be obsessed with passing the TPP – did it start off as a reasonable deal for America ten or so years ago and has got immensely and hideously perverted into a deal that will only benefit corporations and destroy democracy the world over (there is provision in it to make all subsequent trade deals contain the TPP so it will eventually take over the world). Does he not realise what is going on? Does he not care?
They are revoting on it today. I called my 2 Democrat Senators to express my diapproval. I urge everyone to do the same.
Good luck to us!
This morning I received an email from Public Citizen asking me to email my rep in the House. Because my Rep is Doug Lamborn, "the most Conservative member of Congress," I drastically rewrote their suggested letter, removing all information sbout what the TPP will do, and emphasizing instead that Fast Track is a giveaway of Congressional authorityto President Obama. If we are going to win this, I believe that is how we will have to do it. Here is the text of my re-written letter, in case anyone else has a knuckle-dragging Rep and wants to use it:
"I am writing today as a constituent to ask you to vote “no” on Fast Track trade authority. The time is now! Debate on Fast track has started in the Senate. But I know that it will be the House that will decide whether we get more Fast Tracked trade deals like the TPP.
The trade authority bill coming your way soon would give away your constitutional authority. It would give Fast Track treatment to any and all trade deals for the rest of President Barack Obama’s term and for the term of whoever is president for the four years after that.
If you delegate away your constitutional trade authority with Fast Track, you would give away your leverage and power even after trade officials have ignored the 60 senators and 230 representatives who have demanded certain provisions.
I would like you to please write back to me to share your position on Fast Track. I don’t care what they call it this time around; if it lets President Obama sign a trade deal before Congress approves it and then railroads the done deal through Congress with no amendments and limited debate in a set number of days, I want you to oppose it. For six years, you have stood firm against giving President Obama this kind of authority. Pleas continue to stand firm on this issue.
We need a new form of trade authority that provides Congress and the public with a meaningful role from start to finish in trade negotiation and approval processes. United with your fellow members of Congress, you can stop Fast Track and get our trade policy back on the right track
Please send me a response committing to vote “no” on the Fast Track bill.
Thank you."
This whole TPP/TPA is such a dog's breakfast!
It's hard to tell . . . whose president is Obama anyway?!
Thanks all. See today's lead article for a follow up.
A worthy victory even if only temporary–it is past due for Congress rubberstamping such deals
stopping rubberstamping, of course