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THURSDAY MAY 23 is National All-Call Day Against Fast Track : 1-877-611-0063 |
Current rating: 0 |
by Jessica via Global IMC
(No verified email address) |
22 May 2002
Modified: 23 May 2002 |
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THURSDAY MAY 23 is National All-Call Day Against Fast Track 1-877-611-0063* Send Congress Home For Recess with Four Words: NO TO FAST TRACK |
Your Representatives are coming home for MEMORIAL DAY RECESS (5/24 - 6/3) so let's give them a proper send-off! The Senate vote on Fast Track is planned for THIS WEEK, meaning it could go back to the House -which is the vote that counts - any time after Congress returns in June! NOW is the time to let your Representatives know that they will be held accountable in the district AND in DC!
The free-trade friendly Senate is expected to pass Fast Track, as we always knew they would -- but your excellent work has cost them MONTHS of time, pushing the House vote closer and closer to election season. The SECOND HOUSE VOTE IS WHERE WE TAKE BACK THE VICTORY STOLEN FROM US IN DECEMBER! Once a Senate-House "conference committee" merges the House bill passed last December and the Senate bill, that merged bill must be passed again by the House. We MUST THANK AND WORK TO KEEP all the Reps who voted with us last time (some of whom are being very weaselly) and SLAM AND CHANGE the ones that didn't (find out how YOUR Representative voted at www.tradewatch.org/fasttrack).
How do we win? Join the national call-in day against Fast Track THURSDAY May 23rd!. Call early and call often to hold your member accountable to what matters most: her/his constituents!
The number to call is 877-611-0063* or 202-224-3121 & ask for your Rep. A Capitol Switchboard operator answers that toll-free number and can tell you who your Rep is -- or look it up on http://action.citizen.org/pc/dbq/officials
If you would like to call more than just your own Member, e-mail gtwfield (at) citizen.org and we will tell you of other key undecided Members of the House who need your call.
Talking Points (for more information on Fast Track visit www.tradewatch.org):
· Fast Track railroads democracy by giving away Congress' constitutionally-mandated responsibility to oversee trade agreements and forcing Congress to vote up or down with no amendments and only 20 hours of debate on agreements the President brings back already signed, sealed and delivered. This is the same process that led to devastating trade agreements like NAFTA and the WTO!
· The current Fast Track bill (H.R. 3005) is a slap in the face - it is the same old anti-labor, anti environmental garbage that was in the 1997 and 1998 Fast Track. It does not address the issues of labor and environment in any meaningful way, nor does it beef up Congress' role in trade to hold negotiators accountable and stop NAFTA-type deals. In fact, it includes language by Senator Phil Graham ( R - TX) that guts even the inadequate labor and enviro rhetoric in the bill by saying that governments don't even have to follow THEIR OWN labor and environmental laws AND that trade sanctions CANNOT be employed to force countries to adhere to MINIMUM labor and environmental standards. Attempts to remove the Graham language in the Senate failed.
· The White House has also actively worked to kill the Kerry Amendment (aimed at dealing with the NAFTA Ch. 11 issues) and says it will gut even the meager TAA and US trade law protections in the bill during conference.
In the leadup to today's expected Senate passage of Fast Track, several amendments that were supported by fair trade patriots were defeated yesterday. Various press releases enclosed -
The modest amendments that failed yesterday included John Kerry's (D-MA) amendment to reduce corporate lawsuits demanding compensation for lost profits over public health and environmental regulations and a Rockefeller (D-WV)-Mikulski (D-MD) amendment to provide support for health care coverage for retired steelworkers whose employers have gone into bankruptcy because of surging low-cost steel imports.
These amendments would not have made the bill acceptable, but would have provided some modest protections against the most outrageous consequences of corporate-managed trade. Now, more than ever, we must defeat this bill! Thursday May 23 is a National All-Call day to House Members opposing Fast Track!
See below for: - Public Citizen press release on Kerry ammendment failure - Friends of the Earth statement on Kerry amendment failure - United Steel Workers press release on failed Mikulski/Rockefeller amendment - Congress Daily on today's expected Senate passage
- jessica
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For Immediate Release: Contact: Chris Slevin (202) 454-5140 May 21, 2002
Defeat of Kerry Amendment Thwarts Trade Bill's Prospects in House
Senate Rejection of Modest Reform of Investor Protections Reinforces House "Free Trade" Democrats' Fast Track Opposition
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Senate's defeat today of an amendment to repair the failed investor protection model of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) adds yet another obstacle to final passage of the trade package, Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch said.
The House in December passed by a one-vote margin a dangerous measure giving the president Fast Track trade negotiating authority. Public Citizen opposes Fast Track because it strips Congress of its authority to set the terms of trade. After a contentious month-long debate, the Senate is expected to pass its own trade package, which must then be reconciled with the House bill in a conference committee. Both the House and Senate must then approve the conferenced bill for it to become law.
"Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is a fast track supporter who sought a modest amendment to remove a pernicious provision that is causing a backlash to trade deals," said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. "Fast Track's fate will be determined by the second House vote, and House 'free trade' Democrats were relying on the Kerry Amendment's passage to justify reconsidering their Fast Track opposition from last year. Without the Kerry Amendment, House passage fortunately will be even more difficult."
The amendment offered by Kerry was a modest reform that guaranteed much-needed changes in the NAFTA Chapter 11 investment model in future trade agreements. Under the current NAFTA Chapter 11 model, foreign investors may file a claim in secret NAFTA tribunals to seek compensation when government public interest regulations in any way diminish the value of their investment. To date, foreign businesses have cited Chapter 11 to claim $1.8 billion in compensation from U.S. taxpayers. A recent Tufts University study released by Taxpayers for Common Sense has estimated that the NAFTA Chapter 11 model, if extended to the Free Trade Area of the Americas, which this Fast Track bill explicitly authorizes, would enable foreign businesses to claim up to $32 billion annually.
The Kerry Amendment would have restricted such investment protection actions to only those cases where government action causes a physical invasion of property or denies all economic or productive use of that property. In doing so, the amendment would have instructed U.S. trade negotiators to ensure that future investor provisions do not grant foreign investors rights beyond what the U.S. Constitution provides.
"It will be tough sledding in the House given that the Kerry fix for Chapter 11 failed and the White House says it will kill in conference the trade law amendments that passed," said Wallach.
A group of House Democrats from the Pacific Northwest who have supported past trade bills wrote in a May 16 letter to Ranking Member Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) that "the Kerry Amendment will safeguard the regulatory authority of state, local and federal governments" and is "imperative that any final trade negotiating authority legislation include the provisions" in the Kerry Amendment.
While the White House and business groups have lobbied hard against the Kerry Amendment, state and municipal groups endorsed it, including the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Association of Counties, the National Conference of Towns and Townships, and the National League of Cities.
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Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.citizen.org.
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Contact: Mark Helm 202-783-7400 x102 Sara Zdeb 202-783-7400 x 220
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, May 21, 2002
Senate Votes to Expand Corporate Assaults on Environmental Laws
Friends of the Earth Says Kerry Amendment Loss Paves the Way for Anti-Democratic Trade Deals
Washington DC - Friends of the Earth expressed disappointment in the loss of an amendment to trade legislation that would have protected environmental standards from foreign investor lawsuits. The amendment, offered by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), sought to address concerns with investment rules like NAFTA's Chapter 11 that allow foreign corporations to bring suits against environmental laws and regulations.
"By voting against the Kerry amendment, the Senate has paved the way for more backdoor corporate assaults on laws that protect our air, water and land," said David Waskow, Friends of the Earth's Trade Policy Coordinator. "The Senate should be protecting the health and safety of Americans, not watching the backs of wealthy polluters who make big campaign contributions."
Friends of the Earth noted that the close vote indicated a growing concern among pro-trade members of Congress about the impacts trade agreements have on domestic laws and regulations. In particular, environmental groups cited the votes of Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) as evidence of the threat posed by Chapter 11. At the same time, the group lambasted pro-environment Senators who opposed the amendment.
"Unfortunately, Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) abandoned their environmental principles when their industry friends came calling," said Sara Zdeb, Friends of the Earth's Legislative Representative. "If they think environmentalists will forget this they're mistaken."
Environmental groups pointed to Chapter 11 as an issue that could tip the scales against fast track when the House of Representatives votes on a conference report this summer. Many pro-trade House members indicated their concern about the issue last year, and a group of Democrats, led by Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Brian Baird (D-Wash.) recently said that a fast track conference report must include the Kerry amendment in order for them to support it.
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NEWS from the United Steelworkers of America
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 21, 2002
Contact: Gary Hubbard (202) 778-4384 or Marco Trbovich (412) 418-7513
Majority of Senate Supports Protecting Steelworker Retiree Health Care Benefits
USWA says measure undermined by "arcane parliamentary maneuvers of a small band of right-wing extremists"
Washington, D.C. - A group of right-wing Republicans today short circuited an amendment to the Trade Adjustment Act that would have provided relief to some 102,000 retired steelworkers whose health care benefits have been wiped out as a result of 17 steel company liquidations in recent years.
"Today's vote on cloture showed that a clear majority of the Senate is committed to protecting the health care benefits of steelworker retirees who have been victimized by unfair trade," said United Steelworkers of America (USWA) President Leo W. Gerard.
"Unfortunately, a cadre of Senate Republicans -- some of them from steel-producing states and many of whom had no problem bailing out airlines and providing subsidies to giant farming conglomerates -- couldn't bring themselves to help tens of thousands of retired steelworkers who are being forced to choose between paying for basic necessities and the staggering cost of prescription drugs."
The 56 Senators who voted for an interim measure to provide partial coverage of health care benefits for the steelworker victims of unfair trade could not muster the 60 votes necessary to overcome what Gerard referred to as "an arcane parliamentary procedure that requires a super majority."
"On an up or down vote," Gerard said, "we would clearly win and these retirees would be getting the protection that they deserve."
The measure was offered as an amendment to the Trade Adjustment Act (TAA), which is part of the Senate's Trade Promotion Authority bill, better known as Fast Track. The House version of Fast Track passed earlier in the year by a mere vote.
"It's particularly troubling," Gerard said, "that the Bush administration chose to throw its weight behind a minority of extremists in the Senate, rather than come to the aid of the victims of what it has acknowledged is unfair trade in steel.
"These retirees helped build this country into a world class economic power, and they deserve better than second class treatment from their government. The last thing they need when their struggling to pay for the skyrocketing cost of health care," he added, "is to be abandoned by their elected leaders."
Gerard said the government's failure to enforce its trade laws had created the crisis that has wiped out the health care benefits of more than100,000 steelworker retirees.
"These are the men and women who fought this nation's foreign wars. They shouldn't have to fight their own government for protection from wrongdoing by our foreign trading partners.
"And they certainly shouldn't have their fate held hostage by a small band of Republican extremists using arcane parliamentary maneuvers."
Gerard said the Steelworkers would continue to fight to win protection of steelworker retirees' health care benefits. "This isn't going to go away. This union isn't going to let the government turn its back on the hundreds of thousands of retirees and workers that its trading policies have victimized.
"If the federal government can save giant corporations, there's no good reason why it can't save the citizens its failures have victimized."
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National Journal's Congress Daily AM Wednesday May 22, 2002
TRADE Daschle 'Guessing' Trade Bill Vote Will Happen This Week After a few more tests, a historic trade bill is nearing a key vote today in the Senate that should result in final passage by the end of the week. "My guess is we'll get cloture," said Majority Leader Daschle, commenting on today's scheduled cloture vote on the trade package. Daschle would not say how much of the remaining 30 hours of debate senators would want to use. Therefore, a vote could come Thursday or Friday.
Republicans and supporters of the compromise measure on the floor began to breathe a sigh of relief when backers of an amendment to help idled steelworkers with healthcare costs failed to overcome a filibuster. But an amendment by Sen. George Allen, R-Va., to provide mortgage assistance to displaced workers was so close that Vice President Cheney had to step in Tuesday to break a tie. That left a proposal by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., regarding investment protections as the major challenge to the bill.
A Senate GOP leadership aide said top administration officials, including President Bush, appealed to individual senators who might have been in play on that item. The effort apparently worked, with the Senate voting 56-40 to table the amendment. Still, Dan Seligman of the Sierra Club said Kerry's effort kept the issue alive, and many House members will need to think about it if a conference report comes before them. The remaining amendments are either minor enough to be accepted by unanimous consent or lack the votes to pass or overcome procedural maneuvers, according to Daschle. Baucus predicted the bill would finally pass with as many as 70 votes.
Looking ahead to a conference, neither Baucus nor Daschle would predict anything with certainty Tuesday, including the fate of a provision to safeguard trade remedies under U.S. law, which Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and Mark Dayton, D-Minn., succeeded in adding last week. "Dayton-Craig is a reason why some members may vote for the bill," said Daschle.
Hoping to ensure that the bill staggers to the finish line in the Senate, President Bush is touting to senators his approval of the Senate trade adjustment assistance compromise, a deal that includes language stirring strong concern in the business community and among conservatives. According to congressional and White House officials familiar with the session, Bush made a point of expressing his support for the TAA deal Tuesday, during a White House meeting with a handful of Senate Democrats. "He called the [TAA language] in the Senate right now a good compromise," said a senior White House official. "He let us know he supports the current language of TAA," said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who attended the session.
Nevertheless, at no point did Bush indicate that he would like the Senate TAA provisions to comprise the final language that emerges from conference, sources said. House Republicans are expected to push for changes. Others at the White House meeting included Democratic Sens. John Breaux of Louisiana, who helped broker the TAA compromise, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Maria Cantwell of Washington.
By Stephen Norton and Keith Koffler -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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See also:
http://www.tradewatch.org
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Comments
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Fast Track Slogs thru Senate, Headed to House |
by Public Citizen, Global Trade Watch
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
23 May 2002
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After Lengthy Senate Schlep, Trade Bill Heads to Messy Conference and an Uncertain Final House Vote on Whatever Might Emerge
Statement of Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
WASHINGTON - May 22 - Senate final passage of the Fast Track package by a wide margin has been a foregone conclusion. (Senate trade votes are always lopsided: the '94 Uruguay Round/ WTO vote was 69-31 and the 2000 China PNTR vote was 83-15.) What is historic about this trade bill is its difficult path in the Senate and its uncertain fate in the House.
Given that the Senate has always been a well-greased legislative luge run for trade bills, the four long weeks of debate is unprecedented, to say nothing of an array of thorny amendments that make up the ingredients for the conference from hell. Yet, given what looms next, that was the easy part. Now the package jumps into a swamp of a conference. And then, if a deal emerges, that final bill faces an uphill battle to obtain a House majority. Fast Track squeaked by in late 2001 by only one vote after extraordinary procedural and pork barrel maneuvers.
But first, the conference faces many contentious issues. The Dayton-Craig trade law amendment was supported by 16 GOP senators among 68 who voted not to table it. It has broad support among the House rank-and-file and House Democratic leaders while GOP leaders and the White House seek to remove it. It would provide a modest speed bump on Senate review of a trade bill if, and only if, Congress' negotiating objectives on trade law were ignored by the executive branch. It is seen as a signal of Congress' intent to restore checks and balances to its delegation of Congress' exclusive constitutional trade authority.
Meanwhile, as some conservative House GOP members hint that they will return to their traditional Fast Track opposition, the issues that led House "free trade" Democrats to oppose Fast Track in 2001 remain. The demise of the Kerry Amendment, aimed at keeping the NAFTA Chapter 11 model out of future pacts, means key swing House Democrats will maintain Fast Track opposition. The demise of the Lieberman Amendment means the so-called "Gramm" language, which guts the House Fast Track bill's already-pathetic labor and environmental provisions by removing the enforcement terms and the obligation of countries to enforce their own labor and environmental laws, remains in the bill. The White House never did seek the Unemployment Insurance Reform (including COBRA help for laid-off workers) demanded by New Democrats last year as a condition for considering Fast Track, and the special assistance for airline, hospitality and other workers hurt by 9/11 demanded by some of the key swing Democrats also was never forthcoming.
Meanwhile, some key GOP lawmakers are adamant that Senate Trade Adjustment Assistance provisions be cut back. But many House and Senate members demand that the Senate definition of "secondary workers," which cut from TAA downstream workers (including Teamster truck drivers threatened by NAFTA open border trucking), be broadened.If a deal emerges from conference, it faces a second House vote haunted by the ghosts of trade votes past. Last week, Rep. Tom Sawyer (D-Ohio), a 16-year incumbent, lost a primary to a 26-year-old state assemblyman over one and only one thing: permanent constituent rage about Sawyer's 1993 pro-NAFTA vote.
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