Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called it the "race to the bottom" in his assessment of free trade agreements as he spoke in opposition to fast-track legislation Thursday. But his passionate speech did not persuade enough other Democrats to oppose the legislation, known formally as Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). Neither did the 500+ phone calls and 5,000+ emails that the Daily Kos activism team spurred readers to generate Thursday morning.
The vote was 65-33, all the "nays" being Democrats. On Tuesday, all but one Democrat opposed fast-tracking, meaning the bill's supporters could not produce the 60 votes needed to pass it. But, after some presidential jaw-boning and arm-twisting as well as deal-making by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on how to handle three other trade bills, the TPA legislation was approved less than 48 hours later.
If the actual legislation passes the Senate next week as expected, it will move on to the House where it is expected to encounter opposition from the vast majority of Democrats and some tea party Republicans. The question is whether that opposition can muster a majority of representatives to oppose fast-track legislation. Zach Carter and Michael McAuliff report:
Only about a dozen Democrats have announced support for fast track in the House, and Republican leaders still do not have the votes to secure passage. On Monday, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a moderate Democrat who has backed a host of free trade deals in the past, announced that he would not support the fast-track bill.
"The game has always been the House," said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch program, a key progressive organizer against fast track and the TPP.
Head below the fold for more on the TPP.
If the House does manage to pass fast-tracking legislation, it would mean the president, any president, would have negotiating authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union and any other trade agreements as long as the TPA is in force. Congress would review agreements once they are completed and could give them a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, but could not introduce amendments.
In his opposition speech, Sanders said the TPP follows in the footsteps of previous "disastrous trade agreements" that have "cost us millions of decent-paying jobs," forcing Americans to "compete against people making pennies an hour." According to Sanders, the trade pacts' supporters' promises about how the deals would generate American jobs and other benefits didn't come true: "Virtually, everything they told us turned out to be wrong. And they are wrong again."
The Vermont senator said that supporters of free trade pacts—NAFTA, an agreement with China and one with South Korea—promised huge numbers of jobs. Instead, he said, we lost nearly about 3.5 million jobs as a consequence of agreeing to these deals, 700,000 from NAFTA alone.
Sanders asked that everyone look at who is supporting the TPP and who is not. The multinationals do, he said, because it gives them the ability to shut down American operations and move them abroad. The drug industry does, because it can get everyone, instead of just Americans, to pay the highest drug prices in the world. "Wall Street loves this agreement." On the other side, he said, are all trade unions representing 20 million workers. Most major environmental groups are opposed. Religious groups are opposed because they view trade as a means of lifting people out of poverty. So, Sanders, said on one side, greed; on the other side, workers' needs, the environment and moral values.
Sanders also raised the issue of investor arbitration. Corporations can sue nations for what they consider unfair treatment and be heard by tribunals made up of private lawyers. This arbitration can favor corporations who claim that future profits made be at risk from regulations. "Our job," said Sanders, is not to worry about future profits but to worry about the needs of the American people."
It's now up to progressive activists to persuade a majority of the House that Sanders is right.
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The 13 Democrats who voted for cloture:
Michael Bennet (D-CO); Maria Cantwell (D-WA); Tom Carper (D-DE); Chris Coons (D-DE); Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND); Tim Kaine (D-VA); Claire McCaskill (D-MO); Patty Murray (D-WA); Bill Nelson (D-FL); Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH); Mark Warner (D-VA); Ron Wyden (D-OR)