Smart Track Can’t Be Fast Track in Disguise

Nearly 600 organizations, together representing millions of Americans, have sent a joint letter to Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) expressing their steadfast opposition to Fast Track and outlining the minimum requirements for a new, democratic and accountable trade policy-making process.

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Earlier this year, Senator Wyden announced he is working on new “Smart Track” legislation to replace the expired Fast Track process that allows harmful trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to be rushed through Congress circumventing ordinary review, amendment and debate procedures.

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The sign-on letter promoted by CTC members such as the Sierra Club, Communications Workers of America, the Teamsters and Public Citizen, among others both inside and outside CTC, urges that Fast Track be eliminated and replaced with a new model of trade authority that includes transparency in trade negotiations, a Congressional role in selecting trade partners, a clear set of negotiating mandates and Congressional certification that mandates have been met before negotiations can conclude.

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“Fast track is the wrong track for Americans who care about the health of our families and access to clean air, clean water, and land,” said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. “We need a new model of trade — one that protects communities and the environment while keeping the public engaged in the policy-making process.”

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“We need 21st-century trade authority that allows Congress to do its job and represent the interests of U.S. workers, consumers and communities. By any name, the flawed ‘fast track’ approach still would enable negotiators to bypass Congress and put in place new and binding agreements that have real consequences for all of us,” said Larry Cohen, president of the Communication Workers of America. “A new model of trade authority is the only way to ensure that workers and communities have a voice in these trade decisions. We want to determine what kind of economy we have, not simply accept super-power status for multinational corporations and a snails’ pace for the enforcement issues raised by the rest of us.”

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The September 2014 letter follows petitions delivered on behalf of more than 5,000 Oregonians by the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign, SumofUs and others to Senator Wyden’s offices in Portland, Eugene and Medford earlier in the month.  The Oregon petitions insisted that “Smart Track” not become Fast Track in disguise.  To drive home the message, activists delivering them wore Groucho Marx-style glasses.

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Senator Wyden hasn’t publicly announced many details about his new “Smart Track” bill yet.  The positive things he has said thus far include wanting to introduce greater transparency to the negotiating process and wanting to include stronger negotiating objectives.  While both of these are critical elements of any true overhaul of the Fast Track system, they alone won’t be worth the paper they’re written on if the old, Nixon-era Fast Track approval process is allowed to continue — a point the new letter makes clearly.  “While it is important that Congress develop negotiating mandates that outline what all U.S. trade agreements must and must not include … even more important is the replacement of the outdated and failed Fast Track procedures,” the letter states.

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“There is no ‘acceptable’ version of fast track,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen. “Fast-track must be replaced so Congress can steer international trade in a new direction and create agreements that actually work for most Americans.”

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You can urge your Members of Congress to oppose Fast Track by taking action online here.