Still not onboard with fast-tracking the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Under the rubric of "prioritize jobs" Democratic Sens. Tammy Baldwin (WI), Sherrod Brown (OH), Al Franken (MN), Gary Peters (MI), Brian Schatz (HI), Tom Udall (NM), the Ohio Democratic Party and the Searchlight Leadership Fund are
sponsoring a petition that says no to fast-tracking the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Searchlight was founded 18 years ago by Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate Minority Leader who is retiring at the end of his current term.
An email under Reid's name duplicates the language on the petition website:
Dear xxxxxx,
Free trade agreements have a history of killing jobs in America.
NAFTA displaced almost 7OO,OOO American jobs. CAFTA caused more than 5O,OOO job losses.
Since I’ve always put American jobs first, I’ve never supported a trade agreement. I’m certainly not going to support authority to move trade agreements through Congress faster.
That's why we're organizing a grassroots push to demonstrate support for putting U.S. jobs first. We’d like you to join us. Click here and add your name to the petition today.
We're just coming off a recession that hit Nevada particularly hard -- we cannot afford to speed through another trade agreement that doesn't protect American workers.
Thank you for adding your voice today.
Harry Reid
Reid's opposition to fast-tracking is no surprise. Sixteen months ago, when he was still majority leader, his opposition killed fast-tracking for the 113th Congress. At the time he said:
“Everyone knows how I feel about this,” Reid said just off the Senate floor. “Sen. Baucus knows. Sen. Wyden knows. The White House knows. Everyone would be well-advised to not push this right now.” [...]
The U.S. business community has lobbied hard for the legislation. Told of Reid’s comments, John Murphy, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s vice president for international affairs, said the effort to open new markets “starts” with the fast-track trade promotion authority bill.
“Refusing to move forward with [fast-tracking] only guarantees that foreign barriers against American goods stay in place,” Murphy said.
On the contrary, what refusing to move ahead did a year ago January and what it could do now is give Congress and the American people the opportunity to give this massive, corporate-kowtowing trade deal the thorough scrutiny it deserves, not the abbreviated look the Obama administration wants for it.