fast track

Stop Fast Track NOW!

June 1, 2015 Staff, www.popularresistance.org Organize! fast track, TPP

Our pressure is working! Obama wanted Fast Track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by the end of March but the largest coalition to ever work to oppose Fast Track has made that impossible. Through phone calls, emails, visits to members, rallies, bird-dogging and more, Congress is feeling the heat and struggling to get votes. We expect that Fast Track legislation won't be introduced in the Senate until April. But the opposition is working hard too. President Obama is personally calling members of Congress and his staff are twisting arms and making promises to get votes for Fast Track. The Chamber of Commerce is getting ready to launch a $160 million ad campaign in favor of Fast Track. We've got to increase and maintain the pressure over the next few months or else members of Congress will cave in.

June 3rd Call-In Day To Derail Fast Track

May 27, 2015 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! fast track, Free Trade Agreements, TAFTA, TPP

Ways & Means Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) is pushing to bring his awful Fast Track legislation for a vote in the House very soon. June 3rd will be a national call in day to derail fast track. Please share this email with organizations you are involved with so they can be part of the day of action. Organizations can sign up to participate in the fast track call-in day here. On June 3rd we will send messages to people urging them to call their representatives, i.e. Please call your representative now at 888-804-8311 and urge them to vote NO on Fast Track. People can also call through our coalition website www.StopFastTrack.org. Representative Ryan’s Fast Track bill has already passed in the Senate, and if approved by the House, would allow secretive trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to be rushed through Congress, circumventing ordinary review, amendment and debate procedures. We can win. We can stop fast track for rigged corporate deals but to do so we must mobilize everyone we know and work with. We need to create a wall of phone calls into Congress to show them the breadth and depth of opposition to fast track for crony capitalist trade. We need to let them know voters will ensure elected officials who go against the people on this issue will pay a political price with the end of their careers.

Tell The Congressional Black Caucus, Don’t Fall For Obama’s Race Card On Fast Track

May 25, 2015 Editors of Black Agenda Report, www.blackagendareport.com Resist! Congress, fast track, Free Trade, Obama, Racial Justice, TPP

We understand that the First Black President is now leaning heavily upon members of the Congressional Black Caucus to provide the handful of Democratic votes in the House needed to achieve fast track status for TPP and TTIP. To their credit so far, many CBC members are quietly resisting the president, and a few dare to say so out loud. It's time to let the Congressional Black Caucus know that this is a time and a place when they MUST resist narrow appeals to racial solidarity, when they MUST refuse to line up behind the president. President Obama will demand their support in the name of racial solidarity, if nothing else, but they must refuse. But for the next 10 days, we want to gather as many online signatures to present to the Congressional Black Caucus as possible demanding that they stand up for their constituents, to stand up to the president and SAY NO TO FAST TRACK, NO TO TPP AND TTIP.

Newsletter – A Culture Of Peace

May 23, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Black Lives Matter (BLM), fast track, Korea, Oil and Gas, Peace, TPP, Wars and Militarism

This Memorial Day weekend our thoughts turn to peace and particularly to the courageous women who are working to create peace. These are the people we would like to celebrate as we build a culture of peace and justice to counter our deep heritage of war culture. As we write, thirty women from around the world are meeting with North and South Korean women about ending the Korean War and re-unifying the country. During the trip, they hope to walk across the DMZ. Colonel Ann Wright, who retired from the State Department in opposition to the Iraq War, is with them. Col. Wright wrote Dissent: Voices of Opposition with Susan Dixon to honor women and men like them who resigned and faced retaliation rather than “stand by silently while our leaders were implementing policies destructive to our country and the world.”

If Trade Is War, It’s Time We Fought Back

May 23, 2015 Sonali Kolhatkar, www.truthdig.com Educate! Congress, fast track, Free Trade, Obama, TPP

It is not often that members of Congress get the opportunity to weigh in on international trade. But negotiations over fast-track authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in recent months have given elected representatives the chance to voice their opinions on how the government should engage with other countries financially. For example, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., released a report this week highlighting various promises that presidents have made over the years as they touted the labor benefits of so-called free-trade pacts like NAFTA, and pointing out how they fell flat in living up to those promises. But Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders (a Vermont independent who is a presidential candidate) are among a tiny handful of lawmakers who are openly skeptical of the TPP. The battle lines over the secretive multilateral trade pact pit Warren and Sanders against President Obama, as well as most Republicans and Democrats.

Final Phase In Battle To Stop Rigged Corporate Trade

May 22, 2015 Mackenzie McDonald and Margaret Flowers, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Democracy, fast track, TPP, Trade

On Thursday, despite the cold and rain in Washington D.C., people took to the streets to protest Fast Track for rigged corporate trade deals like the nearly complete Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The protest began with a march around the House Office Buildings on Capitol Hill. They chanted for democracy and played bucket drums capturing the attention of house members and staff who peered out their windows. Kathryn Johnson of Public Citizen spoke about the recent Senate cloture vote which will cut off debate on the Senate floor after only 30 hours. This means that Fast Track for secret trade deals will be Fast Tracked and the more than 150 proposed amendments will not be heard. The protest, organized by Popular Resistance, Beyond Extreme Energy, and others, was also part of a 9 day action period in Washington that is being organized by Beyond Extreme Energy (BXE).

Broad Coalition Rallies To Defeat Obama On Trade Deal

May 21, 2015 Heidi Przybyla, www.bloomberg.com Resist! Capitalism, fast track, Free Trade, Politics, TPP

Once the Senate approves fast track trade negotiating authority for Obama, which could happen as early as this week, the battle will move to the House, where it expected to unleash a major lobbying battle. On the one side, a president who is more engaged in legislative trench warfare than he has been in a long time over legislation that would give him authority to establish the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “This is personal for him,” Representative Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, a member of the Democratic House leadership, told Bloomberg reporters and editors. On the other: a coalition of opponents that is far more diverse than the one that tried unsuccessfully to torpedo Clinton's North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, the first of several trade pacts struck since the 1990s that critics say have cost U.S. jobs and depressed wages.

Tech Companies To Congress: Fast Track/TPP Threaten Internet

May 20, 2015 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! fast track, Internet, TPP

In a joint letter to Congress released today, more than 250 technology companies and user rights organizations say that the extreme level of secrecy surrounding trade negotiations have led to provisions in agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that threaten digital innovation, free speech, and access to knowledge online, and the letter calls on Congress to come out against the Fast Track (AKA Trade Promotion Authority [TPA]) bill for legitimizing this secretive process. Its signatories include AVG Technologies, DreamHost, Namecheap, Mediafire, Imgur, Internet Archive, BoingBoing, Piwik, Private Internet Access, and many others. The letter specifically identifies the TPP’s threats based on leaked texts of the agreement—how it threatens fair use, could lead to more costly forms of online copyright enforcement, criminalize whistleblowing and investigative journalism, and create investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) courts that would further jeopardize user protections in domestic laws. The Fast Track bill, the companies write, would legitimize the exclusive process that has led to these and other provisions, as well as undermine lawmakers’ efforts towards striking the right balance between the interests of copyright holders and those of innovators and users.

Obama Wrong Again: Trade Law Undermines Food Safety Law

May 18, 2015 Public Citizen, Global Trade Watch, www.PopularResistance.org Educate! fast track, Food Safety, Free Trade Agreement, Trade

Today’s final ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body against popular U.S. country-of-origin meat labeling (COOL) policy spotlights how trade agreements can undermine domestic public interest policies, Public Citizen said today. The WTO decision is likely to further fuel opposition to Fast Track authority for controversial “trade” pacts that would expose U.S. consumer and environmental protections to more such challenges. (A list of some of the past public interest policies undermined by trade pacts is below.) COOL requires labeling of pork and beef sold in the United States to inform consumers the country in which the animals were born, raised and slaughtered. “The president says ‘we’re making stuff up,’ about trade deals undermining our consumer and environmental policies but today, we have the latest WTO ruling against a popular U.S. consumer policy. Last week, Canadian officials announced that our financial regulations violate trade rules, and earlier this year, the Obama administration, in response to another trade agreement ruling, opened all U.S. roads to Mexico-domiciled trucks that threaten highway safety and the environment, “said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.

Warren Solidly Responds To Obama With The Facts On Trade

May 18, 2015 Staff of Senator Elizabeth Warren, www.warren.senate.gov Educate! fast track, Free Trade Agreements, Labor Rights, TPP, Trade, Worker Rights and Jobs

The Senate will soon vote on the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 – also known as “Fast Track.” President Obama has requested Fast Track authority from Congress to ease the passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a massive trade agreement with 12 countries that account for nearly 40% of the global economy. President Obama has repeatedly stated that the TPP is “the most progressive trade bill in history” because it has high labor, environmental, and human rights standards. The President claims the TPP will have “higher labor standards, higher environmental standards,” and “new tools to hold countries accountable.” But proponents of almost every free trade agreement (FTA) in the last 20 years have made virtually identical claims. The TPP is being hailed as the strongest free trade agreement yet. But this is not the first time this claim has been made. Proponents of previous trade agreements have made similar claims about every free trade agreement signed in the last 20 years, from the NAFTA agreement in 1993 to the more recent agreements with Colombia and Panama. By now, we have two decades of experience with free trade agreements under both Democratic and Republican Presidents. Supporters of these agreements have always promised that they contain tough standards to protect workers. But this analysis reveals that the rhetoric has not matched the reality.

Stiglitz: The Secret Corporate Takeover

May 17, 2015 Joseph Stiglitz, www.project-syndicate.org Educate! Corporatism, fast track, TAFTA, TPP

The United States and the world are engaged in a great debate about new trade agreements. Such pacts used to be called “free-trade agreements”; in fact, they were managed trade agreements, tailored to corporate interests, largely in the US and the European Union. Today, such deals are more often referred to as “partnerships,”as in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But they are not partnerships of equals: the US effectively dictates the terms. Fortunately, America’s “partners” are becoming increasingly resistant. It is not hard to see why. These agreements go well beyond trade, governing investment and intellectual property as well, imposing fundamental changes to countries’ legal, judicial, and regulatory frameworks, without input or accountability through democratic institutions. Perhaps the most invidious – and most dishonest – part of such agreements concerns investor protection. Of course, investors have to be protected against the risk that rogue governments will seize their property. But that is not what these provisions are about.

Sen. Sessions Takes A Bold Step: Tells The Truth About TPP

May 17, 2015 Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! fast track, TPP

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is one of the few members of Congress who has taken the time to jump through the hoops and read the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But, he has gone a step farther than other members – he told members of Congress what he read. He told the truth about what the TPP says and why Congress should oppose it in a five page letter to his colleagues. Sessions’ action flies in the face of the threats made by the US Trade Representative to prosecute elected officials who tell people what is in the trade agreement. Others should follow his example and get out the truth about the TPP. The debate in the Senate begins on Tuesday, May 19. This is an opportunity for Senators to tell their colleagues the truth about what is in the TPP. Sessions’ “Dear Colleague” letter was leaked and reported in Breitbart. Senators from both parties may want to take a similar approach. Even better, during the debate on the Senate floor there will be an opportunity for amendments that expose problems with the TPP. Senators can tell their colleagues and, through C-SPAN, their constituents the truth about what is in the TPP.

Newsletter – Overcome Fear With Love

May 16, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Newsletter BXE, Chile, Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Economic inequality, fast track, FERC, Finance and the Economy, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Greece, Homelessness, Human Rights, Inequality, Injustice, Living Wage, Obama, Police violence, Racism, TPP, United Kingdom (UK), Urban decay, Walmart, Water, World Economic Forum

Instead of taking action to prevent or mitigate the next crisis, politicians are causing more harm as they work hand in hand with the wealthy elites who are trying to grab even greater power and extract even greater riches. Maryland's governor was quick to bring in the National Guard and militarized police, but just cut Baltimore education funding by $11.6 million to fund pensions, while last week the state approved funding for a youth jail the people in Baltimore don't want. This article provides five key facts about Baltimore and a graphic that shows how the United States built its wealth on slavery, Jim Crow and racially-based economic injustice and kept African Americans from benefiting the economy. Also, as a special addition to recognize BB King, he sings "Why I Sing the Blues" describing the history of African Americans from slavery until today.

Senate To Move Forward With Debate On Fast Track

May 13, 2015 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! fast track, TAFTA, TPP, TTIP

After yesterday's stinging defeat, the Democrats and Republicans in the Senate along with President Obama have reached an agreement to move forward with a debate on fast track trade authority. The Hill reports that "Under the agreement, senators will vote on two controversial bills favored by Democrats before moving to a wide-open debate on granting Obama fast-track authority to negotiate future trade deals." The Senate will vote at noon on a customs enforcement bill that includes currency manipulation language and the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which provides duty-free access for sub-Saharan African countries to sell many goods in the United States. These votes will be stand alone bills rather than combined with the fast track bill. At 2:00 the Senate will begin argument on whether to proceed to a full debate of fast track trade authority combined with trade adjustment assistance (TAA) a program to help US workers who lose their jobs because of the trade agreement. House leaders say they will consider fast track after the Senate passes the bill. Everyone agrees that they currently do not have majority support for fast track in the House. The movement's primary responsibility is to keep and build that majority opposing fast track in the House.

Senate Deals Stinging Defeat To Obama Trade Agenda

May 12, 2015 Alexander Bolton, www.thehill.com Resist! fast track, Free Trade Agreements, TPP

There was a major victory for the movement against the Trans Pacific Partnership and other rigged corporate trade agreements today in the US Senate. Advocates for fast track trade authority fell well short of the votes needed to move to debate fast track on the senate floor. This victory is the result of well-coordinated work by the broad movement against fast track. Across the board each part of the movement of movements did its job. The movement has always seen the senate as the weaker of the two chambers so any victory, even a procedural one like this, shows the effectiveness of all of our work. Rather than President Obama and the pro-free trade congressional advocates gaining momentum they suffered a defeat that will make it even more difficult to win future votes, especially in the US House of Representatives. Our work is not finished, we need to build on this victory and finish the task. Congratulations to everyone who participated.

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