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Slam the Door on Fast-Track!
Finally! At last! Bipartisan collaboration in Washington - and what a beaut! President Obama, the Republican Party, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, K Street lobbyists and giant multinational companies are all singing "Kumbaya" and working together to shove through Congress the fast-track legislation that will grease the wheels for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
Jun 10, 2015
Finally! At last! Bipartisan collaboration in Washington - and what a beaut! President Obama, the Republican Party, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, K Street lobbyists and giant multinational companies are all singing "Kumbaya" and working together to shove through Congress the fast-track legislation that will grease the wheels for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
That's the deal that favors CEOs over workers, profits over the environment and corporate power over the rule of law. Small wonder that it was drafted in secret or that Obama, McConnell and Boehner are determined there will be no amendments permitted once it is made public.
And just look at the strong-arm tactics this bizarre coalition is employing to pass fast-track: As the clock ticked past midnight into Wednesday, the House Republican leadership posted the legislation on line, hoping for a vote this Friday - "to spare supportive legislators," POLITICO reports, "the possibility of another weekend of attacks by trade foes back in their districts." Heaven forbid they should have to go home and hear a discouraging word from their constituents - the actual voters, as opposed to their big donors.
Some cowed Democrats have fallen in line. According to The New York Times, New York's Rep. Gregory Meeks has even been spreading word in the Congressional Black Caucus that denying the first African-American president this trade authority "smacks of bias." As if low-wage workers in communities of color won't be among the real losers once TPP goes into effect and more jobs disappear overseas where labor is cheap and workers too often are treated like dirt.
It's said Obama desperately wants this agreement as part of his "legacy." So much so, as POLITICO notes, that he is willing to hand "a significant political victory" to the very partisans who have fought tooth and tail the last six years to destroy his administration. Legacy? No, it's payback time to the big contributors to both parties. Legacy? Think Bill Clinton and NAFTA.
On Digby's Hullaballo blog, the pseudonymous Gaius Publius reports that the fast-track bill may also lead to another deal called the Trade in Services Agreement - TISA - that could remove regulation of everything from financial services to telecommunications to official checks and balances, leaving citizens and consumers at the mercy of unfettered greed.
WikiLeaks has released some of the proposed agreement's chapters and what's revealed, Gaius Publius writes, "should have Congress shutting the door on Fast Track faster and tighter than you'd shut the door on an invading army of rats headed for your apartment."
There's still time. Call your representative and give them a piece of your mind - now.
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Bill Moyers (1934-2025) was a celebrated journalist, broadcaster, and author. Former managing editor of Moyers & Company and BillMoyers.com, his previous shows on PBS included NOW with Bill Moyers and Bill Moyers Journal. Over four decades, he became an icon of American journalism and was the author of many books, including "Bill Moyers Journal: The Conversation Continues," "Moyers on Democracy," and "Healing and the Mind." He was one of the organizers of the Peace Corps, a special assistant for Lyndon B. Johnson, a publisher of Newsday, senior correspondent for CBS News, and a producer of many groundbreaking series on public television. He won more than 30 Emmys, nine Peabodys, and three George Polk awards.
Michael Winship
Michael Winship is the Schumann Senior Writing Fellow at the progressive news outlet Common Dreams, where he writes and edits political analysis and commentary. He is a Writers Guild East council member and its immediate past president and a veteran television writer and producer who has created programming for America's major PBS stations, CBS, the Discovery and Learning Channels, A&E, Turner Broadcasting, the Disney Channel, Lifetime, Sesame Workshop (formerly the Children's Television Workshop) and National Geographic, among others. In 2008, he joined his longtime friend and colleague Bill Moyers at Bill Moyers Journal on PBS and their writing collaboration has been close ever since. They share an Emmy and three Writers Guild Awards for writing excellence. Winship's television work also has been honored by the Christopher, Western Heritage, Genesis and CableACE Awards.
Finally! At last! Bipartisan collaboration in Washington - and what a beaut! President Obama, the Republican Party, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, K Street lobbyists and giant multinational companies are all singing "Kumbaya" and working together to shove through Congress the fast-track legislation that will grease the wheels for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
That's the deal that favors CEOs over workers, profits over the environment and corporate power over the rule of law. Small wonder that it was drafted in secret or that Obama, McConnell and Boehner are determined there will be no amendments permitted once it is made public.
And just look at the strong-arm tactics this bizarre coalition is employing to pass fast-track: As the clock ticked past midnight into Wednesday, the House Republican leadership posted the legislation on line, hoping for a vote this Friday - "to spare supportive legislators," POLITICO reports, "the possibility of another weekend of attacks by trade foes back in their districts." Heaven forbid they should have to go home and hear a discouraging word from their constituents - the actual voters, as opposed to their big donors.
Some cowed Democrats have fallen in line. According to The New York Times, New York's Rep. Gregory Meeks has even been spreading word in the Congressional Black Caucus that denying the first African-American president this trade authority "smacks of bias." As if low-wage workers in communities of color won't be among the real losers once TPP goes into effect and more jobs disappear overseas where labor is cheap and workers too often are treated like dirt.
It's said Obama desperately wants this agreement as part of his "legacy." So much so, as POLITICO notes, that he is willing to hand "a significant political victory" to the very partisans who have fought tooth and tail the last six years to destroy his administration. Legacy? No, it's payback time to the big contributors to both parties. Legacy? Think Bill Clinton and NAFTA.
On Digby's Hullaballo blog, the pseudonymous Gaius Publius reports that the fast-track bill may also lead to another deal called the Trade in Services Agreement - TISA - that could remove regulation of everything from financial services to telecommunications to official checks and balances, leaving citizens and consumers at the mercy of unfettered greed.
WikiLeaks has released some of the proposed agreement's chapters and what's revealed, Gaius Publius writes, "should have Congress shutting the door on Fast Track faster and tighter than you'd shut the door on an invading army of rats headed for your apartment."
There's still time. Call your representative and give them a piece of your mind - now.
Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers (1934-2025) was a celebrated journalist, broadcaster, and author. Former managing editor of Moyers & Company and BillMoyers.com, his previous shows on PBS included NOW with Bill Moyers and Bill Moyers Journal. Over four decades, he became an icon of American journalism and was the author of many books, including "Bill Moyers Journal: The Conversation Continues," "Moyers on Democracy," and "Healing and the Mind." He was one of the organizers of the Peace Corps, a special assistant for Lyndon B. Johnson, a publisher of Newsday, senior correspondent for CBS News, and a producer of many groundbreaking series on public television. He won more than 30 Emmys, nine Peabodys, and three George Polk awards.
Michael Winship
Michael Winship is the Schumann Senior Writing Fellow at the progressive news outlet Common Dreams, where he writes and edits political analysis and commentary. He is a Writers Guild East council member and its immediate past president and a veteran television writer and producer who has created programming for America's major PBS stations, CBS, the Discovery and Learning Channels, A&E, Turner Broadcasting, the Disney Channel, Lifetime, Sesame Workshop (formerly the Children's Television Workshop) and National Geographic, among others. In 2008, he joined his longtime friend and colleague Bill Moyers at Bill Moyers Journal on PBS and their writing collaboration has been close ever since. They share an Emmy and three Writers Guild Awards for writing excellence. Winship's television work also has been honored by the Christopher, Western Heritage, Genesis and CableACE Awards.
Finally! At last! Bipartisan collaboration in Washington - and what a beaut! President Obama, the Republican Party, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, K Street lobbyists and giant multinational companies are all singing "Kumbaya" and working together to shove through Congress the fast-track legislation that will grease the wheels for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
That's the deal that favors CEOs over workers, profits over the environment and corporate power over the rule of law. Small wonder that it was drafted in secret or that Obama, McConnell and Boehner are determined there will be no amendments permitted once it is made public.
And just look at the strong-arm tactics this bizarre coalition is employing to pass fast-track: As the clock ticked past midnight into Wednesday, the House Republican leadership posted the legislation on line, hoping for a vote this Friday - "to spare supportive legislators," POLITICO reports, "the possibility of another weekend of attacks by trade foes back in their districts." Heaven forbid they should have to go home and hear a discouraging word from their constituents - the actual voters, as opposed to their big donors.
Some cowed Democrats have fallen in line. According to The New York Times, New York's Rep. Gregory Meeks has even been spreading word in the Congressional Black Caucus that denying the first African-American president this trade authority "smacks of bias." As if low-wage workers in communities of color won't be among the real losers once TPP goes into effect and more jobs disappear overseas where labor is cheap and workers too often are treated like dirt.
It's said Obama desperately wants this agreement as part of his "legacy." So much so, as POLITICO notes, that he is willing to hand "a significant political victory" to the very partisans who have fought tooth and tail the last six years to destroy his administration. Legacy? No, it's payback time to the big contributors to both parties. Legacy? Think Bill Clinton and NAFTA.
On Digby's Hullaballo blog, the pseudonymous Gaius Publius reports that the fast-track bill may also lead to another deal called the Trade in Services Agreement - TISA - that could remove regulation of everything from financial services to telecommunications to official checks and balances, leaving citizens and consumers at the mercy of unfettered greed.
WikiLeaks has released some of the proposed agreement's chapters and what's revealed, Gaius Publius writes, "should have Congress shutting the door on Fast Track faster and tighter than you'd shut the door on an invading army of rats headed for your apartment."
There's still time. Call your representative and give them a piece of your mind - now.
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