At 3:28 in the morning on July 27, 2002, in an extended voting session, the House passed the Trade Act of 2002 (H.R. 3009) by a slim 3-vote margin. On August 1st, the bill was passed in the Senate.
The Trade Act’s main provision was Fast Track negotiating authority, also known as Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). The Fast Track mechanism involves special procedures for the negotiation, consideration, and implementation of trade agreements. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress authority over setting the terms of international commerce, and the Executive branch jurisdiction over negotiations with foreign nations. Fast Track, however, delegates Congresses’ authority to the Executive branch so that the Administration is granted the power to negotiate trade agreements, draft implementing legislation to change U.S. law, and sign agreements into international law. Congress’s involvement is restricted to 20 hours of debate and an up or down vote on the final bill with no amendments allowed. Fast Track is an anomaly in terms of legislative procedure in which Congress generally goes through a multi-step process of writing, debating, and amending legislation.
Fast Track was created in 1974, when international trade agreements only dealt with tariffs and quotas. Today, trade agreements have grossly expanded, involving anything from domestic environmental and public health laws to tax and zoning regulations. Because of the far-reaching nature of contemporary trade agreements, more public scrutiny and checks and balances are needed, not less.
In addition to the constraints of the Fast Track procedure, TPA established negotiating objectives for future trade agreements which rather than establishing meaningful objectives on labor and environmental protections, investment provisions, and other crucial areas, afford the Administration a blank check. In several cases, the negotiating objectives in TPA are a step backwards from those in previous grants of Fast Track authority.
The current granting of Fast Track lasts through July 1, 2007 unless a house of Congress adopts an extension disapproval resolution July 1, 2005. The Bush Administration hopes to utilize Fast Track in 2005 to push through an expansion of NAFTA to the rest of the Western Hemisphere, called the Free Trade Area of the Americas, as well as legislation implementing current trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization.
TPA News
Romney Wants Presidential Trade Power Associated Press, November 1, 2007
Bush Losing “Fast Track” Trade Power Associated Press, July 2, 2007
713 Groups Sign Letter Telling Democratic Leadership “No” to Fast Track Release
Letter
Interfaith Working Group Letter Opposing Fast Track Renewal March 27, 2007
Fast Track to Nowhere International Association of Machinists Media Library, March 2007
Steelworkers President Cites New AFL-CIO Direction on Trade Policy Statement by USW President Leo Gerard, March 7, 2007
Fast Track or the Right Track? AFL-CIO Executive Council Trade Resolution, March 6, 2007
Restoring the American Dream Through Fair Trade, Not Free Trade Change To Win Statement, March 6, 2007
Labor, Environmental, Farm Leaders Say NO Fast Track Renewal Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, UNITE HERE President Bruce Raynor, Sierra Club President Carl Pope, National Farmers Union President Tom Buis, and Friends of the Earth President Brent Blackwelder tell reporters Congress must change course on trade. [Because of the size of this file, it will be quicker to right click the link and "save target as" onto your computer, then open it with your media player.]
Labor, Greens Denounce Trade Policy Washington Times, February 14, 2007
CTC Trade Strategy Summit Launches Plan to Translate Midterm-Election Fair-Trade Mandate into New US Trade Policy Citizens Trade Campaign Press Release, February 6, 2007
A New, Green Vision is Need for Trade Statement of Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of the Earth, and Sierra Club, January 31, 2007
Statement of Lori Wallach, Director of Global Trade Watch Hearing on Trade and Globalization, House Ways and Means Committee, January 30, 2007
Letter in Opposition to Fast Track Citizens Trade Campaign, August 1, 2002
Fast Track to Lost Jobs Economic Policy Institute, October 2001
Fast Track Talking Points Public Citizen
Fast Track Wins, Workers Lose with Senate Trade Vote AFL-CIO
