Congressional Fair Traders

Fair Trade Democrats are piping up (hat tip Sirota) about the Obama administration pushing yet another labor arbitrage, badly written NAFTA style bad trade agreement:

an increasingly agitated faction of Democrats is warning party leaders of ugly economic and political consequences if they try to move the Panama agreement.

Not only will it hurt the economy, critics say, but action on a Bush-negotiated trade deal endangers freshman Democrats in 2010 since many ran on a trade reform agenda. In addition, critics say, it doesn’t bode well for Obama to anger a bloc of Democrats early on when he needs their support for his ambitious domestic agenda.

“I’m getting really pissed off,” said House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D), who represents a region of New York that has suffered under the North American Free Trade Agreement. “Obama’s got to get a hell of a lot of stuff up through here, and to start out by bumming out about half of us doesn’t strike me as a wise move.”

It is a Bush negotiated agreement, many have shown it is yet another labor arbitraging agreement that has hurt this nation, so one must wonder why Obama, who claimed he would reform trade policy, is trying to instead pass yet another bad trade deal?

Despite the intraparty protests and a jam-packed legislative agenda, top Democrats appear intent on moving forward on the issue.

So, in other words, regardless of party switch and regardless of campaign promises, the beyond belief damage to workers these agreements have caused, those few elites plan on just passing yet another one.

Yeah, this is a Democracy, right o.

Subject Meta: 

Forum Categories: