Fast Track Bill Met with Tidal Wave of Opposition

By
CTC
– April 16, 2015Posted in: Breaking Issues
Legislation designed to rush controversial trade agreements through Congress was met with strong opposition immediately upon its reintroduction.  Labor, environmental, family farm and consumer leaders spoke out against the so-called “fast track” legislation by House Ways & Means Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Finance Committee Chair Orrin Hatch (R-UT), which is modeled after a failed 2014 Fast Track proposal that would allow international pacts the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to circumvent ordinary congressional review, amendment and debate procedures.
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“Americans oppose the use of fast track to pass the TPP, which threatens jobs, wages, food safety and environmental protections. But they will be forced to endure it if this same-old trade vehicle is ultimately approved,” said James P. Hoffa, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.  
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“With fast track you have to look at history.  Name me any multilateral agreement passed by fast track that has resulted in a net gain in jobs for working Americans,” said Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers.  
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“We need to put the brakes on fast track.  Just like the TPP itself, there has been no transparency around fast track.  We’ve had the start of a Senate hearing even before a bill was finalized and introduced.  Now, that legislation is headed to mark up and a floor vote in just days,” said Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America.  “Fast track pretends to be about trade, but in reality it is about protecting corporate profits above all else and defining our national security in terms of giving away our jobs, depressing our wages and then rewarding multinational corporations, often U.S. based, with guaranteed profits in nations where they invest.”
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“We are deeply disappointed that the legislation introduced today repeats the same old corporate driven approach to trade that has cost America hundreds of thousands of jobs,” said Tom Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.  “The hot air of unenforceable negotiating goals for the nearly completed, yet still secret Trans-Pacific Partnership will not help working families struggling with stagnant wages nor U.S. businesses besieged by foreign currency manipulation.”
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“This fast-track bill is toxic for Congress and for our air, water and climate.  We’ve seen this all before.  This bill replicates an old, failed model of trade authority that rushes deals through Congress and strips out the vital protections and oversight that ensure trade pacts benefit American communities, workers and the environment,” said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club.  “Americans who care about clean air and clean water won’t support a bill that takes away the ability of those we elected to protect our basic needs.”
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“Sensible climate policy is put at risk by TPP investment tribunals.  A wide array of energy policies could be challenges before tribunals that favor the interests of Big Oil,” said Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth US.
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“These trade agreements would allow foreign corporations to challenge our chemical safeguards, climate protections and food safety laws at special trade tribunals outside our normal legal system. Congress should reject any fast track legislation that allows expedited approval for trade agreements that can undercut our public health and environmental standards,” said Peter Lehner, executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
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“Fast Track is just the continuation of the same old thing, trade agreements that make huge promises of prosperity and jobs to the American public and deliver nothing but bigger deficits, exported jobs and lost domestic agricultural sales,” said Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union.
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“Fast track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership would make it easier for corporations to offshore American jobs, would undermine our wages by forcing Americans to compete with Vietnamese workers making less than 60 cents an hour and would expose our consumer and environmental safeguards to attack by foreign corporations in extra-judicial tribunals,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.
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“Congress should reject this retrograde fast track legislation that is designed to usher in the secret Trans-Pacific Partnership — a trade deal that is a raw deal for consumers,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch.  “The fine print in fast track contains an all-out attack on America’s consumer protection and food safety laws. Fast track allows U.S. trade negotiators to trade away vital consumer safeguards to win giveaways for big business in the TPP or other trade deals.  The safety of American consumers is up for sale under fast track.”
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“Fast track legislation is dead on arrival.  The Ryan-Hatch bill seeks to reinstate the same, old fast track process that Congress rejected in last year’s Camp-Baucus bill, and this attempt is not going to fare any better,” said Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of Citizens Trade Campaign.  “The public has had enough of back-room trade deals that offshore jobs and drive down wages, and Members of Congress are getting that message.”
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Within 48-hours of the bill’s reintroduction, many of the above organizations and hundreds of others, participated in a National Day of Action Against Fast Track, with more than fifty separate rallies, block walks and other actions against the Ryan-Hatch bill taking place on and around Saturday, April 18, 2015 — and many more since.
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