Trade

The Arizona Republican editors are dead wrong about Fast-Track and the TPP

by

The editors of the The Arizona Republican had some advice for Arizona Democrats on Sunday, Arizona Democrats can’t afford to fight trade deal:

ArizonaRepublicanShowing support for this legislation constitutes a golden opportunity for Sinema and Kirkpatrick — Democrats whose districts include almost equal parts liberal and conservative voters — to establish their moderate bona fides once and for all. Both have worked hard to stake out reputations as issue-oriented lawmakers who vote substance, not party. When the trade bill returns to Congress, there will be no better opportunity for Sinema and Kirkpatrick to put weight behind their claim to the centrist’s helm.

The authority would allow the U.S. president to negotiate complicated trade deals with the partnership countries, all of which then would be put before Congress for a vote. Contrary to the concerns of “tea party” activists who fear awarding still more “executive authority” to Obama, Congress retains the final say.

Read more

Senate votes to advance debate on Fast Track and the TPP, and almost none of them have read it

by

CorporateFlagSenators worked out a compromise on bringing the Fast Track and Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement to a vote that could have been done earlier in the week if the Septuagenarian Ninja Turtle wasn’t such a “my way or the highway” kind of leader. He wound up caving in to the original demands to vote on related trade bills first, so what was the point of this Kabuki theater? Senate compromise revives fast-track bill, but an uphill slog looms in House:

The breakthrough, announced by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), came after an intense day of talks between the parties, along with input from the White House, which scrambled to save the trade deal after the embarrassing filibuster Tuesday.

* * *

Under the Senate plan announced Wednesday, a separate currency bill will be voted on Thursday afternoon, followed by a vote on an African trade bill. Only after those votes will the Senate turn to the fast-track legislation and a related bill to offer aid to workers who lose their jobs.

Read more

‘Rewriting the Rules: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity,’ and the ‘Progressive Agenda to Combat Income Inequality’

by

Earlier today, a panel discussion at a Roosevelt Institute event with economist Joseph Stiglitz, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled the new report by Stiglitz, “Rewriting the Rules: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity.” Check out RewritetheRules.org to find out more. Download of the Full Report (.pdf).

Rewriting

Bill de Blasio and Elizabeth Warren Talk Income Inequality:

Who said it is about income inequality, Mayor Bill de Blasio or Senator Elizabeth Warren?

“This doesn’t just come from Republicans. A lot of Democrats seem to have floated along with the idea that the economic growth is in direct opposition to strengthening the well-being of America’s families, and that we have to choose economic growth or our families. That claim is flatly wrong.”

The answer is Ms. Warren, the progressive senator from Massachusetts who some are hoping will decide to run for president as an alternative to a Hillary Clinton bid likely to be funded by donors from the banks Ms. Warren often rails against.

But it could just as well been Mr. de Blasio, who spoke just moments after Ms. Warren at the National Press Club this morning during an event called Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy, which carried with it the tagline “An agenda for growth and shared prosperity.” In recent months, as he’s traveled to the Midwest and now Washington in an effort to urge a focus on income inequality in the 2016 presidential race, Mr. de Blasio too has expressed the idea that even some within his party have not given the issue the attention it deserves.

Read more

Fast Track trade authorization blocked in U.S. Senate

by

Screenshot from 2015-01-25 15:31:49The Septuagenarian Ninja Turtle, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, failed to marshal 60 votes in favor of a motion to proceed to the bill to formally begin work on the fast-track portion of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade bill. The final vote was  52-45.

Arizona Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake voted to advance the bill. Sen. Tom Carper (Del.) was the only Democrat to vote in favor. (McConnell voted no in order to make the motion for reconsideration to bring the bill back later).

This is a major setback for McConnell and the White House. Nevertheless, the White House was brushing off this defeat even before the vote, according to Roll Call. White House Brushes Off Fast-Track Failure:

The White House is brushing off what is now expected to be the imminent filibuster of President Barack Obama’s fast-track bill on the Senate floor, with Press Secretary Josh Earnest blaming a “procedural SNAFU” for Democrats planning to vote en masse to block it.

The expected vote could deal a devastating blow to Obama’s ambitious trade agenda, and amounts to perhaps the biggest rebuke of this president by his own party.

Read more

Fast Track trade agreement vote on Tuesday – lobby your senators

by

At its Spring State Committee Meeting in Tucson on Saturday, the Arizona Democratic Party adopted a second resolution reaffirming its opposition to Fast Track and The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), first adopted by the committee at its  Spring State Committee Meeting in April 2014.

Screenshot from 2015-01-25 15:31:49On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate will take up the first procedural vote on the TPP. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell set a procedural vote for Tuesday that will provide an initial test of the Senate’s support for the Trade Promotion Authority legislation that many of President Obama’s fellow Democrats oppose. McConnell will have to find 60 votes in favor of a motion to proceed to the bill to formally begin work on the fast-track trade bill.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a vocal opponent of the fast-track trade bill, has said that he could slow progress on the trade bill, which is not time sensitive, in favor of moving two other bills, one to provide highway construction funding and the other dealing with the NSA domestic spying program struck down by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals last week under the the USA Patriot Act. Both measures require congressional action before they expire at the end of the month.

The Hill reports today, Reid, McConnell battle ahead of trade vote:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) are battling on the floor ahead of a procedural vote Tuesday on “fast track” trade legislation.

The Republican leader said Monday that he intends to allow for an open amendment process to the trade legislation, adding that blocking movement on the bill “would be a big mistake.”

“[There’s been] some talk about preventing the Senate from even debating the bill,” he said. “I would tell you… I think that would be a big mistake.”

The Senate is scheduled to take an initial procedural vote Tuesday, on ending debate on a motion to proceed to the bill.

Read more