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GOP-Obama Compromise Would Mean a Scary Win for Big Business (TPP, TTIP)
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2014/11/07/GOP-Obama-Compromise-Would-Mean-Scary-Win-Big-BusinessI'd be surprised if a single voter cast their ballot on Tuesday so multinational corporations could exempt themselves from national laws. I don’t remember one TV ad framing the election as a chance to raise prescription drug prices in poor countries, or to stop the government from buying American-made goods. Maybe I missed the cable news chatter about muting the legislative branch’s power to define regulatory boundaries.
However, those could be the biggest results of this week’s GOP takeover of the Senate. Every election post-mortem looking for areas of potential cooperation between the Republican Congress and President Obama starts with “free trade.” Because the Washington elite’s hearts go a-flutter whenever they hear the term “free trade,” they see the deals as just the kind of bipartisan solution they think the country has yearned for. But the deals being readied by the Obama Administration actually don’t have much to do with trade at all; they’re about corporate power.
...
In reality — at least as far as we know from leaked texts — TPP would limit government policies on everything from financial services to the environment to food safety. Initiatives like “buy American” laws, which mandate government purchases with domestic producers, would be tossed out under TPP, to name just one example.
..
Why does the Republican Senate takeover provide a path for these deals? Because in January, Harry Reid decided to deny President Obama the critical tool of “fast-track” trade authority. This allows the chief executive to put trade agreements through an expedited process, where Congress would be able only to vote up or down, with limited debate and no amendments. The purpose is to limit re-negotiation of trade deals after Congressional passage, but fast-track limits democratic accountability and transfers to the executive power granted to the legislative branch in the Constitution. Mitch McConnell, the likely new Senate Majority Leader, has suggested support for fast-track, a priority of business lobbying groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
However, those could be the biggest results of this week’s GOP takeover of the Senate. Every election post-mortem looking for areas of potential cooperation between the Republican Congress and President Obama starts with “free trade.” Because the Washington elite’s hearts go a-flutter whenever they hear the term “free trade,” they see the deals as just the kind of bipartisan solution they think the country has yearned for. But the deals being readied by the Obama Administration actually don’t have much to do with trade at all; they’re about corporate power.
...
In reality — at least as far as we know from leaked texts — TPP would limit government policies on everything from financial services to the environment to food safety. Initiatives like “buy American” laws, which mandate government purchases with domestic producers, would be tossed out under TPP, to name just one example.
..
Why does the Republican Senate takeover provide a path for these deals? Because in January, Harry Reid decided to deny President Obama the critical tool of “fast-track” trade authority. This allows the chief executive to put trade agreements through an expedited process, where Congress would be able only to vote up or down, with limited debate and no amendments. The purpose is to limit re-negotiation of trade deals after Congressional passage, but fast-track limits democratic accountability and transfers to the executive power granted to the legislative branch in the Constitution. Mitch McConnell, the likely new Senate Majority Leader, has suggested support for fast-track, a priority of business lobbying groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
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