{"id":5202,"date":"2015-04-19T11:12:59","date_gmt":"2015-04-19T15:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/?p=5202"},"modified":"2015-05-20T11:03:36","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T15:03:36","slug":"coast-to-coast-protests-show-fast-track-is-dead-on-arrival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2015\/04\/19\/coast-to-coast-protests-show-fast-track-is-dead-on-arrival\/","title":{"rendered":"Coast-to-Coast Protests Show Fast Track Is Dead on Arrival"},"content":{"rendered":"
Less than 48 hours after legislation was introduced to allow controversial trade pacts such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to be rushed through Congress, labor, environmental and community activists held more than 50\u00a0rallies and other actions in cities across the United States opposing it. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cFast track is dead on arrival in the U.S. Congress,\u201d said Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of Citizens Trade Campaign. \u00a0\u201cToday’s\u00a0legislation is the same as last year\u2019s failed fast track bill, which failed to garner enough support to pass the House of Representatives. \u00a0If anything, public opposition to fast track is even louder and better organized this time around. \u00a0Most Members of Congress want nothing to do with it.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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The fast track legislation introduced on April 16, 2015\u00a0by Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) would allow the TPP\u00a0and other pending trade deals to circumvent ordinary Congressional review, amendment and debate procedures. \u00a0Similar legislation introduced last year died in Congress for lack of support.<\/div>\n
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Before the legislation was even introduced, more than 1,200 trade union, environmental, consumer and faith activists and more than a dozen Members of Congress rallied outside the U.S. Capitol on April 15 to voice their opposition to fast track.<\/div>\n
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On Saturday, April 18, and thereabouts, thousands more\u00a0turned out for other rallies, block walks, educational events and other actions throughout the country as part of a National Day of Action<\/a> against the\u00a0bill. \u00a0These actions coincided with a\u00a0global day of action<\/a>\u00a0against corporate trade deals that featured hundreds of actions in dozens of countries across six continents.<\/div>\n
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Protesters are not alone. \u00a0The highest-ranking House Democrat overseeing trade policy recently\u00a0said, “I’m out to defeat the [Fast Track] bill.”<\/a><\/div>\n
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The\u00a0Ryan-Hatch bill\u00a0makes only minor adjustments to last year\u2019s Fast Track bill that was dead on arrival in the House. Only eight out of 201 House Democrats supported that bill and House GOP leadership could not count more than 100 members as \u201cyes\u201d votes. Since then, 14 of the 17 new freshman Democrats in the House have signed letters opposing Fast Track, despite pressure from the administration.<\/div>\n
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Activists argue that stopping\u00a0Fast Track is the single most important contribution those in the United States can make to ending corporate trade agreements\u00a0that threaten to:<\/div>\n
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