U.S. Chamber Hails Passage of Free Trade Agreements

[Poll_Blind]

PRESS RELEASE, NOT SUBJECT TO 4-PARAGRAPH RULE
Directly from the http://www.uschamber.com/press/releases/2011/october/us-chamber-hails-passage-free-trade-agreements">US Chamber of Commerce:

WASHINGTON D.C.—The U.S. Chamber of Commerce hailed the bipartisan Congressional approval of the trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama and urged the president and lawmakers to build on it with an aggressive new trade agenda.

“Passing these trade agreements represents a victory for American workers, American competitiveness, and American leadership,” said Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber. “It means we will immediately stop losing jobs to our competitors who have cut their own deals and we can start creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs for Americans.”

“At a time when many people think Washington is broken, members of Congress from both parties and the administration put American jobs first by making these trade agreements a reality,” Donohue said. He commended House Speaker John Boehner; Representatives Dave Camp, Kevin Brady, and Steny Hoyer; Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Senators Max Baucus and Orrin Hatch; as well as President Obama, White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, and Ambassador Ron Kirk for successfully carving a path forward to complete the trade agreements.

“Let’s make the approval of these agreements a foundation for moving bipartisan, job-creating policies forward,” Donohue said. He urged lawmakers to build on passage of these agreements with an aggressive new trade agenda, including swift negotiation of a Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.

Likewise, after returning from his second trip to Europe in as many weeks, Donohue emphasized the need to explore possible trade agreements with our largest economic partner, including the possibility of eliminating all tariffs on U.S.-EU trade. This could boost transatlantic trade by $120 billion over five years.

“With the most productive workers and the most innovative companies in the world, the United States should look on these agreements not as the finish line but as the dawn of a new era for American companies to compete and win in global markets,” Donohue said.

:puke:

Your jobs goin' overseas. The US Chamber is doing very well under this president. The http://blog.aflcio.org/2011/10/12/act-now-tell-congress-no-on-korea-colombia-panama-trade-deals/">AFL-CIO, American workers and you...not so much.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x624440">House Rep. Peter DeFazio on the job killing free trade agreements
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x624441">House Rep. Peter DeFazio on the South Korean Free Trade Agreement
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x624243">Sen. Bernie Sanders: A Good Deal for Kim Jong Il

As another poster put it, "The Chamber of Commerce is smiling. Why bother electing a Republican next year? They do very well with the current White House occupant."

Indeed.

PB

[myrna minx]

1. Sickening and maddening. n/t

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

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[mod mom]

2. Other than NYC, protesters should surround US Chamber buildings.

[Poll_Blind]

9. Or the White House, same diff.

PB

[mod mom]

14. isn't it a damn shame and while it's being inhabited by the party we worked

to get elected. Beyond maddening.

[msongs]

3. congress/obama/chamber of commerce = the 1% club nt

[pampango]

4. WaPo: The Tea Party loses another round (strange bedfellows)

On Wednesday afternoon, the House was steamrolling toward passage of a trio of free-trade agreements without a whisper of objection from the Republican side. Finally, hours into the debate, Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) rose to appeal to his fellow Tea Partyers to heed the people who elected them.

“Here we have roughly 9.1 percent unemployment in this country, due in no small part to the Washington elite jamming these job-destroying trade agreements down our throats,” Jones pleaded on the House floor. “It’s time we started listening to the will of the American people, doing what’s in the best interest of the American people, not in the best interest of the foreign nationals who desperately want to take our jobs.”

There is little doubt about where the Tea Party faithful stands on free trade. A year ago, a Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll found that 61 percent of Tea Party supporters thought free-trade agreements had hurt the country, compared to 53 percent of Americans overall who held that view. Shortly after that, a Pew Research Center poll found that only 24 percent of Tea Party supporters thought free-trade agreements were good for America.

Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur (Ohio) actually praised the Tea Party as she denounced lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. “Is anybody paying attention?” she demanded. “This is just another example of powerful Washington elites being totally out of step with Main Street and the American people.” Beckoning to the Republican side and then to the Democratic side, she said: “I’m proud of the Tea Partyers who are out there organizing, and I’m proud of the Occupy Wall Street people because they’re saying you folks you are out of step up here in Washington.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-tea-party-loses-another-round/2011/10/12/gIQAxbU2fL_story.html

[jwirr]

13. So did the new Tbagger congress persons actually vote against the

new trade bill? Craavack?

[MannyGoldstein]

5. I forgot, the Chamber also deserves kudos

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2108607">Admit it - congratulations owed to Obama and Congress this AM

[woo me with science]

6. Well, of course they do.

Why bother to elect a Republican? They're doing just fine with the current White House occupant.

[rhett o rick]

7. And the Corp-Media pretends it doesnt know what the OWS protest is about. nm

[durablend]

8. Corp-Media doesn't even know OWS exists

"Just ignore it and it goes away--like magic!"

[rhett o rick]

10. Many of them are saying, "But what do they want?" like the dumbasses they are. nm

[Name removed]

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