Anti-smoking groups come to Obama’s aid on trade deal
Public health groups are pressing Democrats to back a controversial Pacific Rim trade deal negotiated by the Obama administration. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and other groups are backing the deal because of language that carves out tobacco companies from using the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s dispute settlement system. The rare carve-out blocks tobacco companies from suing when foreign governments restrict labels on cigarette packaging.
Gregg Haifley, the federal relations director with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said the tobacco provision goes right to the heart of what Democrats have demanded in trade agreements: reducing global tobacco use while protecting the sovereignty of governments from expensive and unwarranted litigation.
Inclusion of the carve-out in the TPP was a big win for anti-smoking groups, but it is costing President Obama some valuable Republican votes in Congress as he seeks to win approval of the deal. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned the administration not to include the carve-out. McConnell has said that the deal may not get a vote until the lame-duck session, after the November elections. And several Republicans from Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia say they will oppose the TPP because of the language.
While they won’t name any names and can’t point to any lawmaker statements of support, they say that Democrats have told them in conversations on Capitol Hill that the tobacco provision will be a very important consideration in their vote. “Most Democrats are still making up their minds as they weigh the actual impact on their constituents,” Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in an interview. “But there will be more support for the Pacific deal than people expect,” he said.
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/267737-anti-smoking-groups-come-to-obamas-aid-on-trade-deal
I haven't seen any such positive reviews of the TPP from environmental and labor groups.
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