Omaha Steve's Labor Group

Teamster Jeff

(1,598 posts) Sat Mar 30, 2013, 12:20 PM Mar 2013

Fast Track is unconstitutional. And it will be used to pass the NAFTA on-steroids TPP

>>>
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is likely to be extremely unpopular once people find out about it. Most ordinary people hate these job-killing, corporation-empowering deals. That's why presidents since Richard Nixon used so-called Fast Track authority to ram them through Congress.

Fast Track authority lets the president submit a bill for a mandatory vote by a deadline, with no amendments allowed, Senate rules waived and debate limited in both chambers of Congress. Fast Track expired in 2007, so President Obama must reinstate it to pass the TPP. Look for that to happen this summer.

Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese at truthout explain why Fast Track is unconstitutional:

Under Fast Track, the president was allowed to negotiate and sign trade agreements with whatever countries the executive branch selected - all before Congress voted on the agreement. Fast Track meant that the Congressional committee processes were circumvented and the executive branch was empowered to write lengthy implementing legislation for each trade pact without Congress. These executive-only authored bills required US law to conform to the trade agreement...

Indeed, Fast Track turned the US Constitution on its head. Under Article I Section 8, Congress has exclusive authority "to regulate commerce with foreign nations" and to "lay and collect taxes [and] duties." Under the Constitution, the president is empowered to negotiate treaties, but Congress must vote to approve them. Thus, Fast Track took constitutional power from Congress and prevented the checks and balances needed to prevent an imperial presidency.
>
Fast Track is very unpopular, so now President Obama and others who advocate for it do not use the term. Instead they call it by the euphemism "Trade Promotion Authority."

>>>

http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/03/fast-track-is-unconstitutional-and-it.html

7 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Fast Track is unconstitutional. And it will be used to pass the NAFTA on-steroids TPP (Original Post) Teamster Jeff Mar 2013 OP

Remember when Obama said "I'm a warrior for the middle-class"? AnotherMcIntosh Mar 2013 #1

He also seems to be a Constitutional Scholar who missed the 4th amendment completely... villager Mar 2013 #2

Ya but what country's middle class was he talking about? Teamster Jeff Mar 2013 #3

Remember when he promised to "Renegotiate NAFTA", bvar22 Mar 2013 #5

bummer. nt limpyhobbler Mar 2013 #4

Informative. Thanks for posting this. hay rick Mar 2013 #6

These supposed trade agreements are nothing more than treaties fasttense Mar 2013 #7

AnotherMcIntosh

(11,064 posts)

1. Remember when Obama said "I'm a warrior for the middle-class"?

Reply to Teamster Jeff (Original post)

Sat Mar 30, 2013, 12:22 PM

Mar 2013

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/barackobam416686.html

villager

(26,001 posts)

2. He also seems to be a Constitutional Scholar who missed the 4th amendment completely...

Reply to AnotherMcIntosh (Reply #1)

Sat Mar 30, 2013, 12:29 PM

Mar 2013

n/t

Teamster Jeff

(1,598 posts)

3. Ya but what country's middle class was he talking about?

Reply to AnotherMcIntosh (Reply #1)

Sat Mar 30, 2013, 12:38 PM

Mar 2013

On the 1 year anniversary of the US-Korea "Free Trade" agreement exports are down 9% and imports from Korea are up.

“The data show that these Obama administration-supported FTAs are undermining the national goals set by the president of boosting our exports, reviving U.S. manufacturing and creating American jobs,” said Wallach. “This kind of data makes everyone wonder just why the administration keeps pushing so-called ‘trade’ agreements like the Korea FTA, and now the Trans-Pacific Partnership, that facilitate offshoring, ban Buy American provisions and erode manufacturing jobs, utterly contradicting the president’s domestic agenda.”

Many of the sectors that the Obama administration promised would be the biggest beneficiaries of the Korea FTA have actually been some of the deal’s largest losers. U.S. pork exports to Korea have declined 18 percent under the FTA relative to the same months in the year before FTA implementation, while beef exports have fallen 9 percent and poultry exports have plunged 41 percent. While U.S. auto exports to Korea have increased 7 percent under the FTA, U.S. auto imports from Korea have surged 17 percent, causing an 18 percent rise in the U.S. auto trade deficit with Korea.

http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/2013/03/on-anniversary-of-us-korea-fta-implementation-us-exports-down-9-percent-imports-from-korea-up-and-de.html

bvar22

(39,909 posts)

5. Remember when he promised to "Renegotiate NAFTA",

Reply to AnotherMcIntosh (Reply #1)

Sat Mar 30, 2013, 07:20 PM

Mar 2013

.....and "Make EFCA the Law of the Land"?

You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.
[font size=5 color=green]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/center]

limpyhobbler

(8,244 posts)

4. bummer. nt

Reply to Teamster Jeff (Original post)

Sat Mar 30, 2013, 05:10 PM

Mar 2013

hay rick

(7,619 posts)

6. Informative. Thanks for posting this.

Reply to Teamster Jeff (Original post)

Sat Mar 30, 2013, 09:43 PM

Mar 2013

fasttense

(17,301 posts)

7. These supposed trade agreements are nothing more than treaties

Reply to Teamster Jeff (Original post)

Sun Mar 31, 2013, 08:20 AM

Mar 2013

between countries and should require the 2/3 majority Senate vote the Constitution requires.

The TPP is a giant wet kiss to corporate power and a give away of citizen's rights all in the name of profits for corporations.

Reply to this discussion