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Senate Passes Obama's TPP Fast-Track Trade Proposal

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Two days ago there was some rejoicing and much surprise when the "Warren-faction" of Senate liberals turned against Obama, and failed to vote for a fast-track approval of the TPP. That surprise lasted for about 48 hours when moments ago, in a 65-33 vote, the Senate finally advanced a measure allowing Obama to expedite approval of trade agreements, a bill with bipartisan support in that chamber which however according to Bloomberg may run into strong opposition from House Democrats.

The vote followed separate votes sought by Democrats to pass proposals curbing currency manipulation and boosting imports from sub-Saharan Africa. The Senate plans to consider amendments to the fast-track trade proposal next week.

As previously reported, a rebellion Tuesday among Senate Democrats seeking the currency provision previews what may be fiercer battle ahead between Democrats and House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican.

“There’s a broad feeling we have to do something against China” on currency manipulation, New York Senator Charles Schumer, the chamber’s third-ranking Democrat, told reporters before the vote on advancing the trade bill. He called the currency measure “a shot across China’s bow that we’re not going to just sit there and do nothing.”

Bloomberg reports that the fast-track bill would allow Obama to submit trade agreements to Congress for an up-or-down vote without amendments. He hopes to complete a 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership and send it for fast-track approval.

On Tuesday, Democrats blocked Republicans from advancing the fast-track bill without also voting on the currency measure. Many Democrats remain stung by the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, which is blamed by labor unions for a decline in U.S. manufacturing jobs.

 

The trade bill, H.R. 1314, would give Obama and the next president fast-track powers for six years.

 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said Thursday the agreement to separate the two measures from the broader trade bill was a sensible plan.

 

“I’d like to thank the president too,” McConnell said. “No, you’re not hearing things. President Obama has done his country a service by taking on his base and pushing back on some of the more ridiculous rhetoric we’ve heard.

And in other news, just as the TPP fast-track news hit, perpetual warmonger and neocon John McCain announced that as part of a $613.2 billion Defense Authorization Bill, approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee, the US just added funds for 12 more F/A-18 fighter jets. More importantly the Bill authorizes sending arms to Ukraine.

More details from Bloomberg:

Bill has $523b in base funding, $90.2b in war funds, Reed says.

 

Reed says he voted against bill on “off-budget gimmick” in which Republicans transferred extra funds from base budget to overseas contingency operations to avoid budget controls.

 

Amendment to eliminate war funding account rejected, cmte Chairman John McCain says.

 

Bill would preserve A-10 close-air combat plane; authorizes arms to Ukraine, McCain says.

 

Cmte approves more for F-35, F-18 fighters, McCain says; bill authorizes adding 6 F-35B fighters.

 

Bill requires approval of Guantanamo closing plan, he says. Presidential veto of bill would be “very serious step”: McCain.

In other words, since the Fed can't print trade, either the world will trade with the US voluntarily... or it will be forced to do so. And if that fails, there is always the Ukraine war escalation option.

 

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Thu, 05/14/2015 - 19:32 | 6095193 SubjectivObject
SubjectivObject's picture

Why is it so hard to find a roll call for this vote?

Thu, 05/14/2015 - 19:35 | 6095201 Skip
Skip's picture

"Not every heterosexual White male is a lawyer, and not every heterosexual White woman is a mindless couch potato. Some of us do see what is going on, and to say that we don't like it is an understatement."

Fast-Tracking TPP, The Danger Of Informal Immigration Deals, And The Need For Treason Trials
By Peter Brimelow former editor of Forbes magazine, on May 11, 2015, 11:04 pm

But the fact is that the benefits of free trade claimed even by its supporters are surprisingly small, and its costs, in terms of its redistribution of income within First-World countries, surprisingly large.

The second memory: it dates back even further, to 1990 or 1991 when NAFTA was being negotiated by the Bush I Administration. (NAFTA was negotiated by the Bush Administration and passed by the Clinton Administration—another example of the top-level bipartisanship that trade deals mysteriously seem to attract).

I was having dinner in Manhattan with an economist aide to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who had just come up from meetings in the White House.
He expressed astonishment that Bush aides had casually told him they had informally promised the Mexicans that the U.S. would tolerate increased illegal immigration to accommodate the Mexican farm laborers who would be thrown off the land if Mexico gave up its corn price supports, which U.S. agribusiness demanded.

But my experience suggests that an even graver danger is the informal promises that our rulers make. After all, Obama has shown us, and the GOP Congressional Leadership apparently accepts, that law is whatever the Chief Executive/ King says.

Isn’t that what the American Revolution was all about?

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): Stupid Party Cedes Working Class to Democrats—Setting Up Next Defeat

With the hard Left’s increasingly shrill and anti-white ideology forcing the Democrats into one unforced error after another, the GOP simply needs to avoid confirming the caricature of themselves as corporate stooges.

And—naturally—they can’t do it. As outlined, the GOP leadership in Congress is already working closely with President Obama to force through this trade legislation against the President’s own party. Of more concern, leading Republican candidates, including Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, and even Ted Cruz, now support the legislation [Rick Perry Comes Out in Favor of Obama Trade Deal, by Alex Swoyer, Breitbart, May 7, 2015].

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, whose electability will in large part depend on his ability to attract white working class voters and Reagan Democrats in the Rust Belt, also has spoken favorably about the deal, though he left himself just enough wiggle room about the “details that need to be worked out” [TPP Proponents close to Clinton remain optimistic about her support, by Lee Fang, The Intercept, April 24, 2015].

The GOP And The Trans-Pacific Partnership: On a Fast Track to National Ruin
By Patrick J. Buchanan May 7, 2015

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 06:05 | 6096334 medium giraffe
medium giraffe's picture

It's a brave new world.

Sun, 05/17/2015 - 15:41 | 6103563 Heavy
Heavy's picture

How to move somewhere where I am not responsible for above?

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!