General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Anyone want to try and defend the President on the TPP? [View all]jazzimov
(1,456 posts)First of all, the leaked section of the TPP shows that NOTHING has been decided. There is a lot of proposals but there is also opposition to every clause I saw. It is an expansion of the TPSEP treaty that has existed successfully between Brunei, Singapore, New Zealand and Chile successfully since 2005.
PDO is trying to reinstate "fast-tracking" for trade agreements which has expired. There are 2 major parts to fast-tracking:
1. No filibuster. I have seen DUers support this many times. Debate is limited - straight up or down vote with a simple majority needed to pass.
2. No amendments. This is necessary for negotiating with other countries. Why would another country negotiate with an ambassador if Congress has the last word and can change everything that has has been negotiated in good faith? It also eliminates the possibility of "poison pill" amendments.
But it looks like the possibility of fast-tracking is dead. So Congress can amend the treaty any way they want. But even if they passed fast tracking, they could still vote against the treaty and reject it if they didn't like it. Any way you look at it, there is no way that the President can push it down our throats as you say in your OP.
Economists LOVE free trade agreements, although I personally don't like them for reasons that I won't go into here. But I will admit that protective tariffs can be dangerous and result in push-back from the foreign body which can hurt the US middle- and lower- classes.
I also disagree with some of the proposals in the TPP. Many of them I like. But those proposals are not supporting corporations over people as you again state in your OP.
So this outrage is clearly poorly researched and obviously designed to denigrate PBO, as evidenced in your OP by the words "defend the President" in your title.