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To: 1rudeboy

>>>Explain how Congress' plenary power to "regulate commerce with foreign nations" is restricted by required 2/3 supermajority (the Treaty Clause).<<<

NAFTA is not a regulation of commerce by the congress, but rather an abdication of the authority to regulate commerce to cabinet-level representatives of the NAFTA member nations. There is no such authority under the constitution for the congress to abdicate authority, except by treaty, and then by 2/3rds majority vote.


61 posted on 09/27/2006 6:13:52 PM PDT by PhilipFreneau
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To: PhilipFreneau
No. Congress authorized those representatives, through Fast Track, to negotiate agreements without relinquishing either oversight or final approval. The authority itself expires after a set amount of time (I believe the current deadline is in 2007).

You really need to think this through . . . if Congress has the ultimate authority, but that authority is governed by the 2/3 rule, which branch of government regulates commerce with foreign nations if a 2/3 vote fails?

In other words, if Congress has the ultimate, plenary authority, what happens when your inevitable vacuum occurs?

63 posted on 09/27/2006 6:23:08 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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