In the final hours before the House votes on a new leadership-concocted scheme to sneak Obamatrade past the American public, it’s been revealed that pro-Obamatrade forces are now aiming to sneak a renewal of the highly controversial Export Import Bank into the deal to secure Senate passage later if the House passes it on Thursday.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has issued yet another clarion call to House Republicans urging them to abandon GOP leadership’s desperate ploys to bring Obamatrade back to life and instead vote against Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) and stop President Obama from getting even more power in his final years in office.
House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) joined NPR Wednesday with Steve Inskeep to stress why he says it’s important for Congress to pass Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which grants President Obama fast-track trade authority. With TPA, Congress cannot issue any amendments to trade agreements and merely gets an up or down vote on a final trade deal.
According to Public Citizen, a non-profit organization, President Obama’s Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) would drastically extend President Bill Clinton’s North American Trade Agreement (NAFTA) from 1994 – which has been widely criticized for costing millions of Americans their jobs.
So, with all that said, 86 Republicans voted for a tax increase–and to violate Norquist’s pledge–when they voted for TAA last Friday. If they do it again on Tuesday, they’ll be violating it again–and of course if any other Republicans vote for TAA on Tuesday, if there is a vote, they’d be voting to violate Norquist’s pledge as well.
Former Obama Senior Adviser David Axelrod stated that Hillary Clinton “owned” the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) “to some degree” in 2012 on Monday’s “Hardball” on MSNBC. After watching a clip of Bill Clinton “finessing” NAFTA, Axelrod said, “It was a little
Buck’s statement comes after Breitbart News reported on the way the controversial Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program is now being funded, using a tax hike on small businesses instead of Medicare cuts, as the Senate had proposed.
A panel on MSNBC’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” and “Ed Show” host Ed Schultz said that Hillary Clinton’s trade position is unclear and accused her of “political positioning” and a lack of transparency on Monday. Huffington Post Political Editor and
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is calling on Republicans in the House—and the grassroots nationwide—to oppose efforts by House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) to revive Obamatrade via a tax increase hidden inside the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) portion of the deal.
The House of Representatives is reportedly taking a vote on TAA on Tuesday since it failed to pass Friday, placing TPA on hold for the time being.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has been arguing that Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) – also referred to as fast-track trade authority – would give Congress more power over President Obama’s highly secretive trade agreements, including the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) and the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA). However, Summers argued in his op-ed that if Obama isn’t given fast track and his trade agreements aren’t passed, the president would actually lose power over international negotiations.
MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell stated that Hillary Clinton went against TPP despite the fact that “she has repeatedly endorsed” it “under a great deal of pressure” on Monday’s “The Rundown with Jose Diaz-Balart.” Mitchell said, “she gave her first comment
Sunday in Iowa, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called on President Barack Obama to work with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to “take the lemons and turn it into lemonade” by making changes to his Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)
From the Economic Policy Institute: Proponents of Trade Promotion Authority (aka fast-track trade negotiating authority), which the House of Representatives will likely vote on soon, have made an unequivocal promise that future trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and
Friday at the White House press briefing, press secretary Josh Earnest put a very positive spin on what is being called a stunning defeat of the TAA portion of President Barack Obama’s trade deal, which has put the future of the entire
“The secretive, hugely impacting Obamatrade deal is another behind-closed-doors fast-tracked D.C. deal that screams “don’t pass it ’til we know what’s in it!” Yet politicians are going along to get along, supporting Obama’s pet project while ignoring the public’s right to know what’s in this monumental international trade deal. This, despite the President’s track record proving he hasn’t got it in him to put American workers first,” Palin posted.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), a 2016 Republican presidential candidate, defended his decision to vote for Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) that would fast-track the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) and Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA)—among other deals—during a Thursday interview with the Hugh Hewitt radio program.
Rep. Russell found himself on the front lines questioning the twisted logic House Republican leadership—particularly Ryan—have put forward to push Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to fast-track the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) and Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), among other highly secretive trade deals.
Following Thursday evening’s near-defeat of Obamatrade on a rule vote, Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) told Breitbart News exclusively that what had just happened was extraordinarily significant. “A lot of people in the media don’t understand the rule vote… it was
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) have both said passing Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to give President Obama fast-track authority to finish his trade negotiations on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), and the Trade in Services Act (TiSA) is the only way for Congress and the public to see what is in Obama’s trade deals
Jeff Sessions’ final “critical alert,” one of several he’s issued throughout the Obamatrade process, shows House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has been engaged in deception as he attempts to guide Obamatrade’s passage through the House.
If Watson steps up to run against Palazzo next year, Palazzo will certainly have his work cut out for him. Obamatrade could be the spark that knocks Palazzo and a whole bunch of other squishy Republicans out of office once and for all.
Approximately 40 House Republicans are on record against the deal, just a few short hours ahead of the vote. GOP leadership is getting steadily more desperate in its attempts to lobby members to support it at the 11th hour.
Some say GOP leaders are so eager to make a deal, they’re willing to take a hit by giving a big campaign issue to Democrats in 2016.
The debate over whether Congress should grant President Obama fast track authority to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreements has now been reduced down to a false choice between free trade and protectionism.
“Last Wednesday, President Obama said that the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) could be amended after its adoption to add China to the agreement, raising new questions about the powers Congress is ceding to the executive through fast-track approval,” Brooks and Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Walter Jones (R-NC), Ted Yoho (R-FL), and Gary Palmer (R-AL) wrote on Wednesday to Ryan in a letter that was just made public this morning.
The debate over providing “fast track” authority for President Barack Obama to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other trade deals has touched on constitutional, economic, and political arguments. Yet the most important question is whether Obama should be allowed to negotiate anything at all after a dismal track record. When Obama is negotiating with anyone other than congressional Republicans, who fold easily, he makes one bad deal after another.
Chief Obamatrade proponent House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) admitted during Congressional testimony on Wednesday evening that despite tons of claims from him and other Obamatrade supporters to the contrary, the process is highly secretive. He also made a gaffe in his House Rules Committee testimony on par with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s push to pass Obamacare, in which she said infamously said: “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”
In the wake of revelations that technically a vote for Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) would be a vote to grant the executive branch massively-expanded immigration powers, the Washington establishment cooked up an elaborate ruse to try to save the flailing Obamatrade bill.
“I would rather Barack Obama not be negotiating for me right now, but he’s going to be there for about 20 more months, and this deal needs to be transparent, and that’s my greatest concern — is the lack of transparency in this piece of legislation,” Perry reportedly said in Iowa.
A log inside the secret room is kept listing any members who go read the TPP text, but Breitbart News can confirm that the log listing the senators who have actually read what they’re about to vote on is also kept secret from the public. That means Americans have no way of knowing—outside of their members of Congress confirming publicly they’ve visited the room to read the TPP text—whether their members of Congress have any clue what it is they are voting on.
Discovered inside the huge tranche of secretive Obamatrade documents released by Wikileaks are key details on how technically any Republican voting for Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) that would fast-track trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal would technically also be voting to massively expand President Obama’s executive authority when it comes to immigration matters.
WikiLeaks is releasing another part of President Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP).
Republicans, Democrats and Independents all agree that limiting inexpensive goods in order to protect U.S. jobs is more important than being able to purchase low-cost products.
It’s quite incredible that Boehner’s team is unable to get their message through to members themselves—and means that essentially the establishment is not even getting their phone calls returned from House Republicans.
The peculiar notion that American exceptionalism requires America to bow before international norms finds its apotheosis in the Obama administration’s current foreign policy.
In fact, the situation is devolving so rapidly out of control for leadership that at a “Whip Briefing” for legislative staffers on Monday, GOP leadership officials wouldn’t even commit that there will ever be a vote to pass Obamatrade—never mind confirm when.
Freshman GOP congresswoman Rep. Mimi Walters (R-CA) has been on television pushing Obamatrade—appearing Monday on Morning Joe on MSNBC to do so—but her office admits publicly she hasn’t read the bill she wants to fast-track through Congress.
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) is pressuring House GOP leadership, particularly Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, to delay plans to muscle Obamatrade through the House of Representatives quickly.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, has written a scathing new letter to President Barack Obama pressuring him to explain why Obamatrade has been so secretive.
