Fast-Track TPP Failed

Dems doom Obama's big trade plans But GOP promising effort will be made to revive international deal, by Bob Unruh

Democrats on Tuesday doomed a trade plan that President Obama long has sought, voting against opening debate on a package of bills that includes the much-discussed Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would put the United States alongside economies in countries such as Chile, Malaysia and Vietnam.

The National Journal characterized the rejection by Senate Democrats as a “stall.” But the report said it was a “major blow to Obama, who lobbied hard for the bill.” Most Democrats followed Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D=Mass., in voting against the plan.

The Senate voted 52-45 to advance authorization for the White House to be given “fast track” power over the agreement, which would make it nearly impossible for Congress to do more than vote up or down on the deal.

But the Senate fell short of the 60-vote threshold needed to open debate on the bill and others, including the Trade Adjustment Assistance plan, which is intended to soften the blow from more overseas trade agreements that will hit U.S. workers.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he continued to be supportive of fast-track authority for the trade bill, but he now must wait until his colleagues “see the light here and come to the table with some realistic alternatives for a path forward.” Until then, he said, the president would wait.

TPP, a proposed regional free-trade agreement, links the economies of the U.S., Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said there still were options to revive the plan.

But the initial skirmish over it virtually ended when Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., emerged from a meeting Tuesday with free-trade Democrats and confirmed they would not support it.

Wyden told reporters: “This is a group that is thoroughly committed to getting this bill passed. The group is concerned about the lack of a commitment to trade enforcement, which is specifically the customs bill. “Until there is a path to get all four bills passed … we will, certainly most of us, have to vote no.”

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., also opposed the bill. “Everyone knows I’m not a fan of fast-track, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that legislation has to be done on a fair basis, and that is what we are talking about,” Reid said.

WND reported earlier on the high levels of secrecy with which Obama has blanketed the proposal. In fact, critics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact pushed by the Obama administration said there is so much secrecy that it’s easier to get information about ISIS than the TPP.

Members of Congress looking for the latest information on the deal have been required to go to a basement room in the Capitol Visitor Center and peruse the package one section at a time, while under surveillance. They’re also told they must hand over any notes they take to the room monitors. And they’re banned from discussing their talks outside of the room.

“It’s like being in kindergarten,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who’s taken a leading role opposing Obama’s trade agenda, Politico reported. “You give back the toys at the end.”

The White House, which has been overseeing a massive lobby effort about the deal, has been mum on its contents. What’s known is Obama wants fast-track authority so he can wind trade deals through Congress without having to deal with amendments.

But the Obama administration explains the shroud of secrecy is necessary to keep America’s economy competitive with other nations.

Some lawmakers, however, say the secrecy is unnecessary.

“My chief of staff who has a top secret security clearance can learn more about ISIS or Yemen than about this trade agreement,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, who steadfastly opposes fast-track authority for the president, Politico reported.

WND columnist Roger Simmermaker earlier said such agreements result in a weaker U.S. economy, fewer jobs and a less prosperous America.

“Some may claim their main concern is a strong U.S. economy, but they’re either deceived, a special interest, or simply not scratching far enough below the sound-bite surface to find out how and why America’s free-trade mindset is the main reason more Americans don’t have jobs,” he said. “How can I confidently make such a statement? Easy. There are these things called facts.”

He explained in detail:

1. “Every free trade agreement the United States has entered into has either taken a U.S. trade surplus and turned into a trade deficit, or made an existing U.S. trade deficit worse. Every single one. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS). You name it. It may be factual that free trade deals increase overall trade, but not in our favor.
2. “There are U.S. exporters that benefit from free trade, and targeted export-related jobs are created, but many times more American jobs are destroyed. We should not be proposing to create a small number of export-related U.S. jobs for the mere privilege of putting an even larger number of Americans in unemployment lines. That is merely one of the many reasons why the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) being negotiated by President Obama needs to be soundly rejected by the U.S. Congress, and why Congress should deny the U.S. president (and any future U.S. president) fast track authority.
3. “The TPP would make Buy American laws and other local content laws illegal or impossible to implement. For example, the 2014 Water Resources Reform and Development Act, which mandated utilization of American steel and American iron covering over $25 billion of U.S. spending, would be illegal.”

He warned, “We would in effect be saying to China, ‘Send us all the steel you can produce, we’ll send you American taxpayer dollars to pay for it, and we’ll put our American workers in unemployment lines so they can drain even more taxpayer dollars through unemployment benefits and jobless claims.’”

 http://www.wnd.com/2015/05/dems-doom-obamas-big-trade-plans/

Comments

TPP would bring more off-shoring of US jobs, just like all the other trade agreements have done.

Opposition to TPP from Democrats is the result of Labor Union Rank and File pressure on Union Leaders passed on to Democrats.   Opposition to TPP from Tea Partiers is the result of concerns that TPP would increase off-shoring jobs, increase immigration and result in international courts that bypass Congress and further destroy elective governance and national sovereignty.  When the Left and Right find themselves in a coalition like this, it’s usually a Populist issue.

This happened in the T-SPLOST vote in Georgia in 2012.  The Tea Party agreed with the MARTA ridership that adding track in South Atlanta where MARTA riders wanted it was better than spending extra Mega-$Billions to expand MARTA to the suburbs, where there was little demand.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader