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Gandalf Grey
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Pelosi's Trade Move: The Good, the Bad and the Potentially Ugly
By David Sirota
Created Apr 9 2008 - 2:10pm
This just off the Reuters wire [1]:
The House of Representatives will decide on Thursday whether to put off
indefinitely a vote on the Colombia free-trade agreement that President
George W. Bush submitted to Congress this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
said. Pelosi, announcing the move to reporters on Wednesday, would not give
a time frame for when the trade pact might be debated and put up for a vote
on passage in the House. The vote on Thursday would change rules for
considering the deal by eliminating a 90-day deadline for Congress to
approve the Colombia trade deal.
This is good news, bad news and potentially ugly news.
The good news: Finally, a Democratic leader is trying to use some modicum of
legislative power to halt our economically destructive and wildly unpopular
trade policies. It's a start.
The bad news: Pelosi has yet to say she will work to kill the pact outright.
In fact, she issued a press release [2] earlier this week merely worrying
that Bush's tactics jeopardize the final passage of the Colombia Free Trade
Agreement. Meanwhile, other top Democrats [3] like Jim Clyburn have gone on
record saying they want this deal to pass (Clyburn has since amended his
statement - but sometimes the truth is in the first reaction).
The potentially ugly news: Is Pelosi throwing America's fair trade majority
a meaningless bone that ends up helping lobbyists pass this deal?
While it certainly is good in the short-term that Congress is postponing
passage of the Colombia deal, if Democrats are ultimately aiming to pass it
anyway, then the delay may actually be a bad thing, in that it would serve
to give K Street lobbyists more time to pressure Congress to pass it. It's
quite possible (probable, really, based on the Democrats willingness to sell
out on this issue) that this postponement (if it passes) will let them cut a
deal with Bush to modestly increase Trade Adjustment Assistance funding in
exchange for the free trade deal. That would be a terrible bargain for
workers, giving them a few crumbs while robbing yet another loaf of bread
out of their hands.
In fact, Pelosi's press release this morning seems to suggest she still
wants this bill to pass:
"I thought there was a risk, the President sending it to the Congress now.
If brought to the floor immediately, it would lose. And what message would
that send?"
See that? Her big fear is not the deal passing, thus hurting American
workers and validating the murderous Colombian government. No, her big fear
is that the deal would NOT pass right now.
If Pelosi is successful in engineering this rejection of fast track - rather
than the rejection of the Colombia FTA - it puts the timetable for the vote
firmly in her hands. She will be able to engineer the vote's timing so that
it passes (imagine, for instance, Pelosi calling a vote on this bill in the
post-election lame-duck session, in a wink-and-nod deal with corporate
campaign contributors). And rest assured, that if this bill does not get
outright rejected, the lobbying pressure to pass it will only increase over
time.
This issue is obviously a moving target. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: CongressDaily just reported this:
House Democratic leaders are seriously considering delaying a vote on the
Colombia Free Trade Agreement until after the November elections, thereby
providing needed cover for vulnerable rank-and-file members, according to
senior Democratic leadership sources.
CongressDaily says the lame-duck plan is gaining momentum, and that -
despite polls showing the vast majority of Americans opposing this
NAFTA-style trade policy - Democrats say killing the deal "is not seen as a
viable political option."
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson
By David Sirota
Created Apr 9 2008 - 2:10pm
This just off the Reuters wire [1]:
The House of Representatives will decide on Thursday whether to put off
indefinitely a vote on the Colombia free-trade agreement that President
George W. Bush submitted to Congress this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
said. Pelosi, announcing the move to reporters on Wednesday, would not give
a time frame for when the trade pact might be debated and put up for a vote
on passage in the House. The vote on Thursday would change rules for
considering the deal by eliminating a 90-day deadline for Congress to
approve the Colombia trade deal.
This is good news, bad news and potentially ugly news.
The good news: Finally, a Democratic leader is trying to use some modicum of
legislative power to halt our economically destructive and wildly unpopular
trade policies. It's a start.
The bad news: Pelosi has yet to say she will work to kill the pact outright.
In fact, she issued a press release [2] earlier this week merely worrying
that Bush's tactics jeopardize the final passage of the Colombia Free Trade
Agreement. Meanwhile, other top Democrats [3] like Jim Clyburn have gone on
record saying they want this deal to pass (Clyburn has since amended his
statement - but sometimes the truth is in the first reaction).
The potentially ugly news: Is Pelosi throwing America's fair trade majority
a meaningless bone that ends up helping lobbyists pass this deal?
While it certainly is good in the short-term that Congress is postponing
passage of the Colombia deal, if Democrats are ultimately aiming to pass it
anyway, then the delay may actually be a bad thing, in that it would serve
to give K Street lobbyists more time to pressure Congress to pass it. It's
quite possible (probable, really, based on the Democrats willingness to sell
out on this issue) that this postponement (if it passes) will let them cut a
deal with Bush to modestly increase Trade Adjustment Assistance funding in
exchange for the free trade deal. That would be a terrible bargain for
workers, giving them a few crumbs while robbing yet another loaf of bread
out of their hands.
In fact, Pelosi's press release this morning seems to suggest she still
wants this bill to pass:
"I thought there was a risk, the President sending it to the Congress now.
If brought to the floor immediately, it would lose. And what message would
that send?"
See that? Her big fear is not the deal passing, thus hurting American
workers and validating the murderous Colombian government. No, her big fear
is that the deal would NOT pass right now.
If Pelosi is successful in engineering this rejection of fast track - rather
than the rejection of the Colombia FTA - it puts the timetable for the vote
firmly in her hands. She will be able to engineer the vote's timing so that
it passes (imagine, for instance, Pelosi calling a vote on this bill in the
post-election lame-duck session, in a wink-and-nod deal with corporate
campaign contributors). And rest assured, that if this bill does not get
outright rejected, the lobbying pressure to pass it will only increase over
time.
This issue is obviously a moving target. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: CongressDaily just reported this:
House Democratic leaders are seriously considering delaying a vote on the
Colombia Free Trade Agreement until after the November elections, thereby
providing needed cover for vulnerable rank-and-file members, according to
senior Democratic leadership sources.
CongressDaily says the lame-duck plan is gaining momentum, and that -
despite polls showing the vast majority of Americans opposing this
NAFTA-style trade policy - Democrats say killing the deal "is not seen as a
viable political option."
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson