Dems Move Fast to Block
‘New World Order’
Obama’s plan would fast-track job killing and hand over US
sovereignty
(Tea Party) – In a clear sign that all is not in harmony in the
Democratic Party, several powerful groups of the Democratic base are organizing
to block “fast track” authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The
partnership – TPP – is a sweeping free-trade agreement the Obama administration
is trying to push though Congress.
This past Monday, a group of 564 political insiders from labor,
the environmental, family-farm and community organizations drafted a strongly
worded letter to the White House stating that the TPP undermines the
president’s message on income inequality.
“President Obama can’t have it both ways,” Arthur Stamoulis,
spokesman for Citizens Trade Campaign, the group organizing the letter, told
WND. “Either the president is for reducing income eligibility as we expect he
will say in the State of the Union address, or he can push for fast-track
legislation on the job-destroying TPP free-trade agreement. He can’t have it
both ways.”
This trade agreement is part of a two-ocean globalist plan the
president is working quietly to enact. The objective is to follow up the
passage of TPP with the completion of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership between the United States and the European Union.
In his 2013 State of the Union address Obama announced his plan to
add the trans-Pacific free-trade agreement to the trans-Atlantic agreement
already in place.
“Fast-tracking” would allow Obama to force the TPP through
Congress with a simple majority vote. Debate would be limited by the rules so
no amendments could be added to the language of the agreement the president has
negotiated behind closed doors.
The clout of the Citizens Trade Campaign is evident in the
signatories.
They include labor unions such as the AFL-CIO; American Federation
of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); American Federation of
Teachers; International Brotherhood of Teamsters; United Autoworkers (UAW);
United Brotherhood of Carpenters; United Steelworkers (USW); and Service
Employees International Union (SEIU).
Included in the environmental organizations are 350.org, Friends
of the Earth, Greenpeace, League of Conservation Voters, National Resources
Defense Council (NRDC), the Sierra Club and the Rainforest Action Network.
Among the family-farm organizations are the National Family Farm
Coalition, National Farmers Union and the Western Organization of Resource
Councils. The consumer groups include Food & Water Watch, Organic Consumers
Association, National Consumers League and Public Citizen.
“Income inequality and long-term unemployment are serious problems
that the job-killing TPP would only worsen,” Stamoulis said.
He continued, calling for fast-track authority in the State of the
Union address Tuesday night “would undercut positive proposals to battle
growing income inequality and create middle class jobs which are expected to be
the central focus of the president’s speech.”
“As short-sighted as such a call would be, even more short-sighted
would be for Congress members on either side of the aisle to answer it, as
they’re the ones who would be dealing with the political repercussions this
November,” Stamoulis said.
Later this week, the U.S. Business & Industry Council, plans
to deliver an additional blow by following up the State of the Union address
with a national press conference identifying the results of a independent
national poll on TPP.
In an unusual collaboration, Democratic pollster Gary Molyneux of
Hart Research and Republican pollster Bob Carpenter of Chesapeake Beach
Consulting have worked together to conduct the poll and report the results.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Business and Industry Council, Eden
Gorden, would not divulge what the poll results show, but it’s believed that
the majority of the responders would oppose the TPP as a job-killing measure.
Opposition leaders charge the administration negotiated in secret
and is now trying to push the agreement through Congress before the pubic finds
out what the measure compromises U.S. sovereignty.
Republicans in the House are gearing up to follow the lead of the
White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to rubber-stamp TPP, reported
WND on Jan. 14th. This is perceived to be the most sweeping trade agreement
since NAFTA.
Still, earlier in January, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen.
Max Baucus, D-Mont, with ranking member Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah and House Ways
and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., announced their group was
introducing “fast track’ trade promotion authority.
Resistance to TPP seems to be coming from House Democrats
concerned that more U.S. union jobs will disappear in the free-trade frenzy
Republicans aligned with Boehner and Democrats siding with Reid plan to run
through Congress.
In the past, 151 House Democrats opposed to TPP and led by
Representatives Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and George Miller, D-Calif., wrote
President Obama expressing their opposition to using so-called “outdated ‘fast
track’ methods that usurp Congress’s authority over trade matters.”
Now that Boehner has decided to support Obama on TPP, the
Republican Party seems ready to disregard fears raised by GOP conservatives and
various tea-party groups that the 12-nation TPP deal further undermines U.S.
sovereignty. They argue that it places major sectors of the U.S. economy under
new dispute-regulation mechanisms that would take precedence over U.S. judges
and courts.
This “fast track authority” which is a provision of the Trade
Promotion Authority also serves to make clear to foreign partners that the FTA
negotiated by the executive branch will not be altered by Congress during the
legislative process.
During his 2013 State of the Union address, Obama declared that to
“boost American exports, support American jobs and level the playing field in
the growing markets of Asia, we intend to complete negotiations on a
Trans-Pacific Partnership.”
“And tonight,” said Obama, “I’m announcing that we will launch
talks on a comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with
the European Union – because trade that is fair and free across the Atlantic
supports millions of good-paying American jobs.”
The president’s promise of creating new jobs drew congressional
applause despite concerns that NAFTA and U.S. participation in the World Trade
Organization along with other previous trade agreements have resulted in the
loss of millions of high-salary U.S. jobs to nations with less costly job
markets.
The 12 nations involved in the TPP are Australia, Brunei, Canada,
Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the
United States.
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