Elizabeth Warren Details Obama's Broken Trade Promises

[think]

Thank you Elizabeth Warren for explaining that human rights provisions have not been enforced in regards to recent trade agreements. Human rights / Worker's rights should not be expendable in the discussion of free trade.

Elizabeth Warren Details Obama's Broken Trade Promises
By Zach Carter - Posted: 05/18/2015 10:08 am EDT

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) issued a report Monday morning detailing decades of failed trade enforcement by American presidents including Barack Obama, the latest salvo in an ongoing public feud between Warren and Obama over the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

~Snip~

Obama has repeatedly insisted the TPP will include robust labor protections, and has dismissed Warren's criticisms as "dishonest," "bunk" and "misinformation." On Monday, Warren fired back, showing that Obama simply has not effectively enforced existing labor standards in prior trade pacts. According to the report, a host of abuses, from child labor to the outright murder of union organizers, have continued under Obama's watch with minimal pushback from the administration.

"The United States does not enforce the labor protections in its trade agreements," the report reads, citing analyses from the Government Accountability Office, the State Department and the Department of Labor.

Of the 20 countries the U.S. currently has trade agreements with, 11 have documented reliance on child labor, forced labor or other human rights abuses related to labor, according to the report. The violations are not confined to exploitation. Since Obama finalized a labor action plan with the government of Colombia in 2011, 105 union activists have been murdered. Obama called the Colombian deal "a win-win for workers" at the time.

Read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/18/elizabeth-warren-obama-broken-trade-promises_n_7302734.html

[cali]

1. Good. Keep it up Senator. Americans need to hear this.

[think]

4. Indeed. I doubt many Americans realize union activists have been murdered in places like Guatemala.

The article says 17 labor activists were murdered in 2013-2014 in Guatemala alone.

The USTR and the corporate world need to get on the right side of this issue and support human rights and workers' rights. Corporations can still be very profitable while being good corporate entities and negotiating labor in good faith and working to make sure their suppliers do also.

But even in 2014 on the other side of our southern border in Guatemala union activists are being killed let alone any talk of fair rights for the workers there. CAFTA has done nothing to enforce fair labor rights let alone stop the killing.

[demmiblue]

2. Here is a direct link for those who do not like huffpo and/or want to read the whole report:

http://www.warren.senate.gov/files/documents/BrokenPromises.pdf

[peacebird]

3. Thank you!

[think]

5. Thank you also :)

[red dog 1]

20. Thanks for the link

[KoKo]

40. Thanks!

[cantbeserious]

6. Zing - Take That Corporatist Democrats And Republicans

Last edited Mon May 18, 2015, 07:20 PM - Edit history (1)

eom

[sabrina 1]

7. Good for her. Just keep on telling the truth Elizabeth!

[JDPriestly]

51. In my lifetime I have never seen two figures emerge who had the moral authority

and the energy and determination of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. We are truly blessed by their activism. I hope that Americans hear them and wake up.

[sabrina 1]

52. And courage, both of them have the courage to tell the truth. And for some reason all attempts

to attack them have failed.

I mentioned this before, but when you look at history it seems to me that people like this seem to come along just when it seemed that there was no one who could take on the job of standing up for the people. And they do seem to come in groups

The FFs eg, so many great thinkers who had the courage to take on an Empire, and there were so many of them at that particular time.

[JDPriestly]

53. Yes.

[Enthusiast]

55. You are so right.

[AikidoSoul]

8. There hasn't been anybody like her for a very long time

She makes me feel hopeful, and that hasn't happened in quite awhile.

Love the lady.

[erronis]

9. I'll bump you rather than add another +++ to the main thread.

Yes, she is exceptional and does not give up.

I'm sure she's been given lots of reasons to shut up, get back in the kitchen, etc. Maybe more and more politician-citizens (vs. politician-employees) are starting to understand that they can shove back. They can work with grass-roots and real people.

With luck there will be a tidal wave of new blood taking over from the tired pecuniary old ones, at the US congressional and state level.

Perhaps there will also be enough to flush the fat cats out of influencing government. However like all parasites, they are hard to dislodge.

[bvar22]

10. "Of the 20 countries the U.S. currently has trade agreements with,...

... 11 have documented reliance on child labor, forced labor or other human rights abuses related to labor,"

Shameful.
I knew about the Human Rights abuses and the killing of Union Organizers in Colombia
while we were "negotiating" the "Free Trade" treaty.

The Horrific Costs of the US-Colombia Trade Agreement

http://www.thenation.com/article/174589/horrific-costs-us-colombia-trade-agreement#

[daleanime]

14. ......

[think]

16. Agree. It's shameful that America's trading partners still have flagrant human rights problems

related to labor and allow child labor practices to go on unabated.

American leadership has been seriously lacking in this regard. Without protections for workers in the countries we trade with it not only damages the workers there but has lasting ripple effects for the American work force.

[arcane1]

28. But "competitive" or something!!

If we allowed child labor those jobs could be ours!!

[840high]

43. ....

[dmosh42]

11. Gee, I wonder why this hasn't been reported on the network news?

[daleanime]

15. ......

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[think]

17. Network news appears to intentionally ignore many issues that may conflict with corporate profits

Hopefully someday we'll get additional network sources that can resist the forces and monetary influences of the dominant corporate culture that seems to exist in today's media

[Omaha Steve]

12. Thanks for posting

K&R!

[chev52]

13. Two politicians..

Both Warren and Grayson. Two politicians not afraid to speak their minds.

[turbinetree]

18. I would like to add

Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown, Keith Ellison and the "progressive caucus.

[Euphoria]

59. Yes! n/t

[ucrdem]

19. Perhaps the time to make these concerns known would have been during the 6 years

it was being negotiated? When the USTR was conferring with Congress about the TPP in over 1,000 meetings? Because the timing leaves her open to criticism that she's sandbagging the president at a critical moment to score political points.

[blackspade]

26. Being correct is not sandbagging.

[JDPriestly]

27. What nonsense! The President and the rest of the Democrats in Congress have had years

to to push Obama to enforce the labor and environmental provisions in these agreements and they have done NOTHING.

Elizabeth Warren was patient. If you read her report, you will learn that the facts that she reports have been known for years. If Obama wanted to push another dirty, money-losing, anti-American trade agreement on us, HE should have had HIS staff research whether the labor and other human rights standards were being enforced and made sure they were.

Obama needs to rethink his options.

The TPP is not going to fly.

If you want to know why, go listen to the video of Elizabeth Warren presenting a speech before the 2015 California State Convention in Anaheim. The moment that she raises the issue of the TPP, the huge crowd of dedicated, hard-working, loyal California Democratic Party members goes WILD.

The Democratic Party core, the loyal members, the do-or-diers in the Democratic Party do not want the TPP.

Obama had better just take count of his losses and retreat on this one because Democrats don't want it. NAFTA and the other trade agreements have hurt our country too much and helped only the greediest of the scoundrels who shoved and kicked their ways to the top of the economic heap.

No to the TPP. It is a corporate coup.

[salib]

30. I think more the point is that failing to act in response to these concerns

with current trade agreements is in fact indicative of the current Administration not doing its job.

BTW, if all that one can criticize Sen. Warren for is "timing" as compared with the egregious examples of human rights violations not being responded to, then I would recommend that you not bother to make that response at all.

[think]

31. Warren took office in Jan. of 2013. In June of 2013 she was already speaking out against the TPP

Sorry if that wasn't soon enough...

Senator Warren: If TPP Transparency Would Lead To Public Opposition, Then TPP Is Wrong

by Mike Masnick
Thu, Jun 13th 2013 10:37pm

"I have heard the argument that transparency would undermine the Administration's policy to complete the trade agreement because public opposition would be significant. If transparency would lead to widespread public opposition to a trade agreement, then that trade agreement should not be the policy of the United States. I believe in transparency and democracy and I think the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) should too."


https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/12035523456/senator-warren-if-tpp-transparency-would-lead-to-public-opposition-then-policy-is-wrong.shtml

[ucrdem]

32. She was appointed to a Congressional staff position in 2008, when Obama was still a senator.

She's had plenty of opportunities before now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Warren

[think]

36. She was appointed to oversee TARP & then to oversee the creation of the CFPB

But hey she could have payed less attention to those extremely important things that she was appointed to take care of and made the TPP a priority even though neither of those 2 positions were directly involved with it. Of course she would have had ZERO access to any information about the TPP but what the hell she wasn't doing anything else important.

Considering how little access congress people still have to the actual text of the TPP it is ridiculous to expect she would have had been in a place to speak about such things when she was hired for other very specific government work.

Elizabeth Warren


TARP oversight

On November 14, 2008, Warren was appointed by United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to chair the five-member Congressional Oversight Panel created to oversee the implementation of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.[42] The Panel released monthly oversight reports that evaluate the government bailout and related programs.[43] During Warren's tenure, these reports covered foreclosure mitigation, consumer and small business lending, commercial real estate, AIG, bank stress tests, the impact of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) on the financial markets, government guarantees, the automotive industry, and other topics.[a]

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Warren was an early advocate for the creation of a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The bureau was established by the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act signed into law by President Obama in July 2010. In September 2010, President Obama named Warren Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to set up the new agency.[44] While liberal groups and consumer advocacy groups pushed for Obama to formally nominate Warren as the agency's director, Warren was strongly opposed by financial institutions and by Republican members of Congress who believed Warren would be an overly zealous regulator.[45][46][47] Reportedly convinced that Warren could not win Senate confirmation as the bureau's first director,[48] Obama turned to former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray and in January 2012, over the objections of Republican Senators, appointed Cordray to the post in a recess appointment.[49][50]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Warren#TARP_oversight

[cali]

33. I would bet this has been brought up by those in Congress

opposed to the TPP. It's certainly been brought to the attention of the USTR by unions. trust you though to obscenely twist this.

[ucrdem]

34. So the timing is pure coincidence?

Really?

[cali]

38. that has shit to do with whether it's been brought up before by Warren

and others with the USTR and the WH.

Damn straight she's making this public now. It's not like the WH is playing by genteel rules. The President has gone for the jugular and he did it first. Turn about is fair play, sauce for the goose, etc.

If it helps in the fight against this piece of corporate dog shit the President is trying to shove down our throats, good.

[ucrdem]

39. Okay but you're admitting it's a stunt.

The problem with using human rights as a political football is that it destroys one's credibility on human rights issues. Ditto dishonest representations of legislation. Just cause or not it flushes credibility down the toilet.

[jeff47]

49. Just as much as Obama claiming Warren was lying.

Flushing his own credibility down the toilet.

Oh wait...that's they guy you like so it was just "good politics" when he did it.

[Major Hogwash]

50. I don't think she is scoring any political points nowadays.

NAFTA wasn't passed by President Obama, so her whining about that trade agreement is falling on deaf ears at the Obama White House.

[Exilednight]

61. She doesn't have to convince the White House, just

Enough people in either chamber to keep it from progressing.

[cali]

63. whining? lol. she's hitting the president and his republican allies

hard with facts that are directly pertinent to the tpp

[ucrdem]

64. So far she's scored close to $46,000,000 worth of points.

https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cycle=Career&type=I&cid=N00033492&newMem=N#fundraising

[Major Hogwash]

68. Wow, I didn't know she was a member of the 1%.

Jesus, you're right, that's a lot of points for pandering.
I wonder why anyone believes anything she says about economics these days since she already admitted that she voted for Reagan.
She's definitely a politician, she's got that pandering factor going for her pretty hot and heavy.

[Enthusiast]

56. What a ridiculous claim.

Elizabeth doesn't need political points. She is awash in political points.

[Scuba]

58. That's incredibly lame. You should be embarrassed.

[red dog 1]

21. K&R...Thanks for posting

[gordianot]

22. Republicans have fallen into deep seated Fascism, the Democratic Party to a lesser degree.

Thankfully the Democratic Party has never been well organized has some diversity and is the last Political Party in America with any chance. Unfortunately third Parties will not work, Citizens United was the final nail in that coffin.

[AZ Progressive]

23. Candidate Obama on Columbia Free Trade in 2008

2:25 to see Mccain start the conversation, 3:33 to just see Obama talk about the Columbia free trade agreement

[cali]

35. ugh. his concern over labor leaders being murdered in Colombia

didn't translate into doing anything about it after it got even worse. His USTR said that those murders weren't anything that we could no anything about vis a vis our trade agreement with Colombia.

[bvar22]

37. The Nation: The Horrific Costs of the US-Colombia Trade Agreement

The Horrific Costs of the US-Colombia Trade Agreement

"With the election of Barack Obama in 2008, hopes of reviving the CTPA seemed dead in the water. As a candidate, Obama had spoken out strongly against the agreement, citing continuing violence leveled at trade unionists, which “would make a mockery of the very labor protections that we’ve insisted be included in these kinds of agreements.”


Two years after his victory, however, President Obama was promoting the CTPA and has called it a win-win for both nations. In April 2011, he enacted a Labor Action Plan to ensure that the Colombian government would act to stop violence against unionists.

“It was a cover,” argues Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. “The Labor Action Plan was used as an ameliorative to try and overcome the outrage in Congress over the United States associating itself with a government responsible for the single highest rates of unionist assassinations. That’s what the Labor Action Plan was about.”

http://www.thenation.com/article/174589/horrific-costs-us-colombia-trade-agreement#

I was always curious WHY a country that had such a horrible record on Human Rights abuses and the Killing of Union Organizers was EVER considered for a "Free Trade" agreement, especially since Obama spoke oppositionally about this during Campaign 2008.





You will know them by their Works.

[KoKo]

41. ...!

[99Forever]

24. K. R

[blackspade]

25. Ouch.

[libdem4life]

29. I keep noticing Ms Warren's beautiful face and smile...nary a wrinkle. And how she raises her

fist...and how right on she is. This TPP swindle is crap.

I'd vote for her in a heartbeat, as she sure can make a stump speech. There is still lots of time and at some time, every politician says they are not going to run. I think she's doing some "listening" as well.
Maybe as VP?

[DhhD]

65. I am looking forward to the 2020 primary season. Democracy may need a left turn.

[libdem4life]

67. Ditto that. I'd change "may need" to "desperately needs" which means to me

that it's never to early to start.

[raindaddy]

42. Reality Check...

Thanks for posting this!!!

[FairWinds]

44. Geez, UCR . .

Now THAT is a really "out there" comment.

"Okay but you're admitting it's a stunt."

We admit no such thing of course.

[ChiciB1]

45. Just Saw Elizabeth ON FIRE Speaking From CA...

I need to come back and read this thread later... I can see I'm a long like-minded people! Had a very long day and very tired!

[Doctor_J]

46. teabagger!!! racist!!! liar!!! she doesn't support the president!!! she doesn't support other

democrats (except the 150 others who oppose this steaming turd)

Fight the good fight, senator

[Octafish]

47. She's just a politician like everybody else...

She seems to have a conscience, which not all politicians possess, though.

[BeanMusical]

48. Kick and R. Good post.

[Enthusiast]

54. K&R! This post should have hundreds of recommendations!

None of the potential abuses have been effectively enforced in the past trade deals.

Why do you think we are so concerned? Just because?

[Enthusiast]

57. Thank you, Senator Warren!

"According to the report, a host of abuses, from child labor to the outright murder of union organizers, have continued under Obama's watch with minimal pushback from the administration."

Minimal.......

[Scuba]

60. K and effing R

[CharlotteVale]

62. K&R

[freebrew]

66. Ouch! that hurt...nt