{"id":5194,"date":"2015-04-16T15:20:15","date_gmt":"2015-04-16T19:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/?p=5194"},"modified":"2015-06-12T15:27:33","modified_gmt":"2015-06-12T19:27:33","slug":"fast-track-bill-met-with-tidal-wave-of-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2015\/04\/16\/fast-track-bill-met-with-tidal-wave-of-opposition\/","title":{"rendered":"Fast Track Bill Met with Tidal Wave of Opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"
Legislation designed to rush controversial trade agreements through Congress was met with strong opposition immediately upon its reintroduction. \u00a0Labor, environmental, family farm and consumer leaders spoke out against the so-called\u00a0\u201cfast track\u201d legislation<\/a>\u00a0by 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.<\/div>\n
.<\/div>\n
\u201cAmericans 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,\u201d said\u00a0James P. Hoffa, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. \u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
.<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cWith fast track you have to look at history. \u00a0Name me any multilateral agreement passed by fast track that has resulted in a net gain in jobs for working Americans,\u201d said\u00a0Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers. \u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
.<\/div>\n
\u201cWe need to put the brakes on fast track. \u00a0Just like the TPP itself, there has been no transparency around fast track. \u00a0We\u2019ve had the start of a Senate hearing even before a bill was finalized and introduced. \u00a0Now, that legislation is headed to mark up and a floor vote in just days,\u201d said\u00a0Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America.<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cFast 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.”<\/div>\n
\u00a0.<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d said\u00a0Tom Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe 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.”<\/div>\n
.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThis fast-track bill is toxic for Congress and for our air, water and climate. \u00a0We\u2019ve seen this all before. \u00a0This 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,\u201d said\u00a0Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club<\/b>. \u00a0\u201cAmericans who care about clean air and clean water won\u2019t support a bill that takes away the ability of those we elected to protect our basic needs.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
.<\/div>\n
\u201cSensible climate policy is put at risk by TPP investment tribunals. \u00a0A wide array of energy policies could be challenges before tribunals that favor the interests of Big Oil,\u201d said\u00a0Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth US.<\/b><\/div>\n
.<\/div>\n
\u201cThese 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,\u201d said\u00a0Peter Lehner, executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council.<\/b><\/div>\n
.<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cFast 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,\u201d said\u00a0Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union.<\/b><\/div>\n
\u00a0.<\/b><\/div>\n
\n
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\u201cFast 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,\u201d said\u00a0Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen\u2019s Global Trade Watch.<\/b><\/div>\n
.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cCongress should reject this retrograde fast track legislation that is designed to usher in the secret Trans-Pacific Partnership \u2014 a trade deal that is a raw deal for consumers,\u201d said\u00a0Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch.<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe fine print in fast track contains an all-out attack on America\u2019s 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. \u00a0The safety of American consumers is up for sale under fast track.”<\/div>\n
.<\/div>\n
\u201cFast track legislation is dead on arrival. \u00a0The Ryan-Hatch bill seeks to reinstate the same, old fast track process that Congress rejected in last year\u2019s Camp-Baucus bill, and this attempt is not going to fare\u00a0any better,\u201d said\u00a0Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of Citizens Trade Campaign.<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0“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.”<\/div>\n
.<\/div>\n
Within 48-hours of the bill’s reintroduction, many of the\u00a0above organizations and hundreds of others, participated in\u00a0a\u00a0National Day of Action Against Fast Track<\/b><\/a>, with more than fifty separate rallies, block walks and other actions<\/a>\u00a0against the Ryan-Hatch bill taking place on and around Saturday, April 18, 2015 \u2014 and many more since.<\/div>\n
.<\/div>\n
Write Congress opposing the bill now.<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Legislation designed to rush controversial trade agreements through Congress was met with strong opposition immediately upon its reintroduction. \u00a0Labor, environmental, family farm and consumer leaders spoke out against the so-called\u00a0\u201cfast […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5192,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[84],"yoast_head":"\nFast Track Bill Met with Tidal Wave of Opposition - Citizens Trade Campaign<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Ryan-Hatch bill to rush the TPP through Congress was met with loud and immediate opposition from across civil society\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2015\/04\/16\/fast-track-bill-met-with-tidal-wave-of-opposition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fast Track Bill Met with Tidal Wave of Opposition - 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