Senate Dems float trade compromise
Source: The Hill
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and New York Sen. Charles Schumer (D) are proposing a compromise to move forward on President Obamas trade agenda, which suffered a serious setback Tuesday.
Reid and Schumer are proposing to pull language addressing currency manipulation from a customs and enforcement bill that Democrats insist must be included in a package of legislation along with fast-track authority and Trade Adjustment Assistance.
In return, they want the Senate to hold a vote on standalone legislation cracking down on currency manipulation before moving to the larger trade package, which would include fast-track, TAA, a pared-down customs bill, and a package of trade preferences for African nations, according to a Democratic leadership aide.
Reid and Schumer floated the idea, and Schumer suggested it to Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (Texas) late Tuesday afternoon.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/finance/241896-senate-dems-float-trade-compromise
moonbeam23
(313 posts)Sorry for the caps, but i think my blood pressure just spiked to 300....knew it was too good to be true that the Senate Dems would actually hold the line against this POS trade screw job!!
ananda
(28,876 posts)Millions of American lives and billions worldwide
are depending on you!
villager
(26,001 posts)They're not interesting in protecting the likes of us....
RufusTFirefly
(8,812 posts)We just avoided being screwed over, and now that our guard is down, they're going to screw us over in a kinder, gentler way.
FreakinDJ
(17,644 posts)tomsaiditagain
(105 posts)If it gets the votes needed to pass then we know who runs the show up on the hill. The people of the USA do not matter to those who own the world as far as cash goes. We are just in the way. Right Harry and Chuck?
!!WALL SREET!!
Eric J in MN
(35,619 posts)Fast Track is a horrible idea.
CharlotteVale
(2,717 posts)jalan48
(13,886 posts)When it comes to the really big issues like the National Security State and World Corporate Capitalism our Democracy no longer has a say. We are allowed to argue over social issues as long as they don't pose a problem to the ruling NSA/Corporate structure.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)The agreement still destroys our constitutional proltections.
No to the TPP.
Dem2
(8,168 posts)And got called a TPP shill and was insulted just for good measure.
DCBob
(24,689 posts)Yesterday vote was just strategy.
Robbins
(5,066 posts)many dems don't care about workers being killed by jobs being shipped overseas and all the power given to corporations in secret NAFTA on steroids TPP.
Unions should not be giving support to these union killing corporate dems.
okaawhatever
(9,462 posts)CBO: pages 2 & 3 have the pertinent information
http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/report_0.pdf
From The Economist: NAFTA 20 Years On
The American and Canadian economies were already pretty well integrated before the creation of NAFTA, so there was no great leap in trade between the two. But Americas trade with Mexico increased by 506% between 1993 and 2012, compared with 279% with non-NAFTA countries. In 2011 America traded as much with Canada and Mexico as it did with the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China), Japan and South Korea combined. The giant sucking sound that Ross Perot, a presidential candidate, predicted would be heard as Mexico hoovered up American jobs never materialised; if jobs have moved anywhere in the past two decades, they have gone to China, not Mexico. Industries from aerospace to cars have woven supply chains back and forth across North Americas borders. Some 40% of the content of imports from Mexico into the United States, and 25% of the content of imports from Canada, originated in the United States itself. Helped by rising energy production in all three countries, Factory North America is being created (see article).
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21592612-north-americas-trade-deal-has-delivered-real-benefits-job-not-done-deeper-better
FactCheck.Org:
Q: How many U.S. jobs have been lost since the inception of the North American Free Trade Agreement?
A: Actually, nearly 25 million jobs have been gained. Nearly all economic studies say NAFTA's net effect on jobs was negligible.
FULL QUESTION
How many U.S. jobs have been lost since the inception of the North American Free Trade Agreement?
FULL ANSWER
NAFTA took effect on Jan. 1, 1994. Since that time, the U.S. economy has added just over 25 million jobs, of which nearly 20 million were added under President Clinton, who pushed for ratification of NAFTA and signed the agreement.
This chart shows the growth in total nonfarm employment in the U.S. since NAFTA's inception, as measured by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:
http://www.factcheck.org/2008/07/naftas-impact-on-employment/
CBO: Summary of 4 Studies
NAFTA had little or no impact on aggregate employment. NAFTA is at
the heart of a long-standing debate over the employment effects of trade because of fears
that trade with developing countries causes U.S. job losses and that trade deficits equate
to higher unemployment. None of the reports attributed changes in aggregate U.S. or
Mexican employment levels to NAFTA, but the author of the first chapter of the Carnegie
study suggests that changing the assumptions of a USITC model would allow for a net
gain in U.S. employment over the past decade of between zero and 270,000 jobs, a small
increase. For Mexico, it concludes that the sum of the effects of the trade pact to date
has not been a strong net gain in overall employment. The second chapter (different
author) argues for zero net growth in U.S. jobs. The USITC study demonstrates, contrary
to some popular opinion, that U.S. trade deficits tend to occur during periods of low
unemployment, and vice versa. This evidence supports well-established economic
theory that would suggest both the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico and U.S. employment
levels over the past decade were responding to economic growth, not each other.9
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/34486.pdf
blackspade
(10,056 posts)Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)We Dems heard you - LOUD & CLEAR! In an overt display of empathy, we've decided to remove one of the tines of the pitchfork we're wielding!
Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts). . . the working text of the document must be made public and the negotiations must be conducted in public.
We, the People, have some history with free trade agreements. We, the People always end up getting fucked. We, the People won't tolerate this any more and resolve to roll back the "free" trade regimes already in place.
Therefore, we are going to treat the negotiators as traitors, the corporate lobbyists in on this thing as enemy combatants and the corporations themselves as criminal enterprises. Putting them on probation is a light sentence, if you ask me. They really should be under lock and key, but we are an enlightened people. The Congressmen and Senators who continue to propose new "free" agreements or support existing ones will be marked for defeat. To be ostracized is a fair punishment for being willing and paid stooges to traitors and criminals.
lark
(23,156 posts)This is total BS. The problem with TPP isn't just that currency manipulation needs to be included, it's the God-awful things that are actually included. They are both just corporatists. Reid, especially, makes me sick because he pretends to be populist with his anti-Koch rhetoric. But, when push comes to shove, both he and Schumer, along with Obama are supporting the 1% in their quest for global economic conquest.
Just. fucking. sickening.
INdemo
(6,994 posts)crumbs. These Dems will cave and with the corporacrats siding with the Repukes this damn thing will pass.Then will try and make us think it is a good bill. The same thing happened with the watered down ACA.Then they said for weeks and months "well its a start"
PADemD
(4,482 posts)Had to leave a message. His office is getting a high volume of calls.