Bush Loses “Fast-Track Authority”
As of today, President Bush has lost his fast-track authority on free trade agreements, joining Bill Clinton as the only presidents to lose that power since 1975.
House Democratic leaders have said that their priorities “do not include the renewal of fast-track authority.”
Instead, their legislations on this issue will lean more toward extending relief and increasing the benefits of globalization to Americans who have been victimized by free-trade agreements. They also plan to tighten up on existing deals such as NAFTA, and to crack down on countries with a history of abusing such agreements, such as China.
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice recommended yesterday that Congress renew Bush’s authority, claiming that it is “an important diplomatic tool that has proven essential to bringing foreign leaders to the negotiating table and advancing our nation’s broader foreign policy interests.”
Of course Rice meant that this authority is the carrot to the military stick in the game of political brinksmanship that the administration insists on playing with the rest of the world. It really is not a good enough excuse for allowing powerful US multinationals to fast-track jobs abroad for profit.
Administration policy is killing the middle-class even as the US GDP continues to rise. If America is so much better off under these policies, where is the money going? Certainly not into the pockets of the average US citizen.
