TPP critics fear 'relentless' White House push
WASHINGTON — Progressive lawmakers who oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership fear arm-twisting by the Obama administration that they say could push the trade deal to passage during the lame-duck session of Congress.
The lawmakers said Wednesday they’re taking nothing for granted, even after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he won’t bring up the deal for a vote this year and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said he doesn’t have the votes.
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“TPP is the last major priority of this administration and they are going all in,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said during a news conference. “They will do virtually anything that they need to do to get the votes. We should anticipate more free rides on Air Force One, visits to the White House, special events in members’ districts to try to gain favor for the deal. The administration will be relentless.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said there's still reason to be nervous.
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“When you have the Business Roundtable and virtually every multi-national corporation saying they want this, we understand that’s real power and real money and real resources and real 30-second ads,” he said. “We feel good, but we’re going to fight this thing as hard as we can because we understand the history of trade agreements.”
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Wednesday's press conference included Democratic Reps. Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Debbie Dingell of Michigan.
Also Wednesday, a coalition of labor, environmental and religious groups launched a “day of action” to get people to call their members of Congress and urge them to oppose the deal. Sanders’ spinoff activist organization, Our Revolution, set a goal for its supporters to make 50,000 calls to lawmakers.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton oppose the trade deal. Sanders is credited with helping shift Clinton’s position during their primary battle. She had backed the deal while serving as President Obama’s secretary of State.
Administration officials say the deal would help the economy and allow the U.S., rather than China, to write the rules of trade. Critics say the deal would send jobs overseas and harm workers' rights, public health and the environment.
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"We must not make it easier for corporate America to ship jobs to countries where desperate workers make pennies an hour," Sanders said. "We cannot continue the race to the bottom."
DeLauro said "we should be wary" of the Obama administration's rhetoric about the TPP being progressive because she said it has no enforcement mechanisms for environmental regulations or labor rights and no curbs on currency manipulation.
"We have been framed as 'opposed to trade,' but we're not," she said. "We are opposed to corporate-driven trade agreements written by lobbyists."