By DICK MORRIS, Published on DickMorris.com on May 9, 2015
Imagine if Republicans could force Obama to rescind his
executive amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Or repeal the mandate to buy health insurance that lies at the core of
ObamaCare. Or revoke the EPA regulations
that are increasingly embracing all aspects of American life in the name of
stopping climate change...
...All this would be possible if the Republicans dug in
their heels and refused to grant Obama fast-track authority to get ratification
of trade deals.
Instead, Republicans are falling all over themselves to give
Obama more power and to curtail Congressional checks and balances. Even as Obama seizes power by unprecedented
use of executive authority, Republicans in both houses are trying to give him
more.
Under fast-track, trade deals will not be subject to the
Constitutional requirement of a two-thirds majority of the Senate for
ratification. A simple majority would
suffice. Congress could not amend the
trade agreements and would have only sixty days to cast an up or down
vote. Under fast-track, the president
could do what he wants.
Republicans have historically been the party of free trade,
arguing that it brings us closer to Adam Smith's world of free markets. So they have always backed presidents who
seek to make trade deals easier to cut.
But in this era, a trade deal may not be just about
trade. The Administration could use the
fast-track authority to force through deals that are partly about commerce but
that get into other areas such as immigration and climate change.
Australia reported that the negotiations are including
provisions for free flow of white collar workers among the signatories. It is easy to see how this provision could be
expanded now or in the future to include all immigration under the guise of
creating a European-style free flow of labor.
Even if this provision is not in the treaty the Senate will be asked to
ratify, it could be included subsequently under the pretense that the
Administration is simply fleshing out the terms of an already negotiated trade
deal.
Likewise, environmental protections embodied in the
agreement could be interpreted to require climate change regulation even in the
absence of Congressional authorization.
The Administration is anxious to assure Congress that it has
no such intentions but we know that this president cannot be trusted to
exercise restraint in using any power he has been granted.
And, once provisions for immigration and climate change are
included in the treaty, they cannot be superseded or even modified by an act of
Congress. The Treaty provisions would
have the force of the "law of the land" under our Constitution.
The impetus for the fast-track legislation is the Trans
Pacific Partnership Trade Deal now under negotiation. Embracing 12 nations including the U.S. Peru,
Chile, Mexico, Canada, Japan, Vietnam, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia,
New Zealand, and Singapore, nobody knows the exact provisions of the
accord. In fact, they have not yet been
worked out. But Obama wants Republicans
to approve fast-track authority on spec and the GOP is eager to oblige.
Democrats, for their part, are breaking with the president
over issues like currency manipulation, labor standards, and environmental
protection. But Republicans are standing
with the president to beat them back.
If anyone ever doubted the power big business holds over the
Republican Party, the events unfolding on the trade deal should dispel
them. In their pursuit of profits,
American business is prepared to give Obama the keys to the kingdom and let him
venture far afield in vindicating his left wing agenda, without consulting
Congress.
Obama is already seeking to enshrine EPA regulations about
climate change in an international "executive agreement" -- which
would not require Congressional ratification.
He is also trying to jam through gun controls as part of the Arms Trade
Treaty (ATT) negotiated by the United Nations.
The ATT would require ratification and, doubtless, won't get it. But Obama's strategy is clear enough: By pass
Congress and act through the treaty making power to implement his program. With fast-track, he need not worry about the
filibuster or a super majority or pesky Congressional amendments. They will all be banned.
Has the GOP lost its collective mind??? Or just its soul?
Source: Dick Morris.com
Comments
PPT ushers in the end of US sovereignty and
the end of the balance of powers.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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