Posted on 01/17/2020 9:47:46 AM PST by nikos1121
The Senate overwhelmingly passed President Trump's proposed replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Thursday, sending the deal to the president’s desk for his approval.
Passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) represents a rare moment of bipartisanship in a bitterly divided Congress. The deal cleared the Senate by a vote of 89 to 10 on Thursday, close to a month after passing the House by a vote of 385-41.
Republicans were eager to help Trump accomplish a major pillar of his economic agenda despite their preferences for a deal with looser restrictions. Democrats, who broadly shared Trump’s scorn for NAFTA, were eager to revise the deal to enhance labor standard enforcement and scrap protections for high-cost pharmaceuticals.
Even so, nine Democrats opposed the USMCA largely due to environmental concerns, while one Republican rejected the agreement over concerns it would burden international trade.
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.)
Toomey was the sole Republican to vote against the USMCA despite its importance to the president’s agenda and Trump’s reliance on Pennsylvania in the upcoming November election.
A staunch conservative and opponent of Trump’s trade agenda, Toomey argued that provisions meant to boost wages in Mexico and raise the tariff-free threshold for autos would spike prices for American consumers.
“Outside of a few necessary modernizations and modest market access improvements for Pennsylvania's dairy farmers, USMCA is a step backwards and I could not support its passage,” Toomey said in a Thursday statement.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
Sanders, a fierce critic of trade deals, was the sole 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to oppose the USMCA. While the White House won over some trade hawks with stronger environmental standards, Sanders said the deal fell short of the transformational change needed to protect American workers.
“We need to fundamentally rewrite our disastrous trade agreements and create and protect good-paying American jobs,” Sanders said Wednesday in remarks on the Senate floor.
“This agreement does virtually nothing to stop the outsourcing of jobs to Mexico.”
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)
Like many progressive Democrats, Schumer praised the USMCA for including unprecedented labor standards and compliance checks to protect U.S. factory jobs. But the Senate minority leader opposed the deal over a lack of provisions intended to fight climate change.
“Instead of advancing global climate security by outlining binding and enforceable climate commitments from all three countries, the Trump administration provides significant incentives for manufacturers to move their business and their jobs from the U.S. to Mexico, where clean air and clean water regulations are much weaker," Schumer said.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
Gillibrand, who briefly ran for president last year, did not share Schumer’s praise for the deal’s new labor provisions.
“Bad trade deals, including NAFTA, hollowed out upstate New York’s manufacturing industry,” Gillibrand said in a statement Thursday. “I don’t believe this agreement will reverse this trend or help the generations of New Yorkers who lost good jobs."
Gillibrand also opposed the deal because it “fails to close loopholes for corporate polluters or set binding, enforceable standards to protect clean air and water.”
Booker, who suspended his presidential campaign this week, was among the few Trump challengers to oppose the USMCA after it passed the House. The senator said the USMCA did little to halt outsourcing, protect the environment or support middle- and working-class wages.
“USMCA does not meaningfully address any of these issues: jobs will continue to be outsourced, the environment will continue to be under attack, and middle class and working families will continue to be left behind,” he said in a Thursday statement.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif)
Harris, who had also sought the Democratic presidential nomination, voted against the deal over environmental concerns.
“By not addressing climate change, the USMCA fails to meet the crises of this moment,” Harris said in a Tuesday statement.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.)
Markey is the original Senate sponsor of the Green New Deal, an ambitious program spearheaded by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to transform the U.S. economy to fight climate change.
The senator said Tuesday he would vote against the USMCA, calling the deal “a profound environmental and climate failure” that will “hinder progress on climate action for a generation.”
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
Whitehouse is an ardent environmentalist who delivers a weekly address on the Senate floor chronicling the damage of climate change. He also opposed the USMCA over the issue.
Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.)
Reed voted against the original NAFTA agreement and voted against the USMCA because it fails to fix the problems of the original pact, said spokesman Chip Unruh.
“It still fails to provide adequately for Rhode Island’s workers and is a missed opportunity to address climate change and environmental protections in a meaningful way. Just like the old NAFTA, he cannot support this new one,” Unruh said.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii)
Schatz has advocated for Congress and federal regulators to impose greater requirements on corporations to fight and identify climate risks. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump is SO EVIL, so deranged, so out of control, such a traitor, such a Russian tool and asset, such a threat to the Republic, such a danger to the Constitution that he must be stopped IMMEDIATELY.
Yet his USMCA passed easily. Go figure.
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) wouldn’t have been an improvement over Arlen Spector.
Did any of these people speak out against NAFTA? Did any of these people speak out against TPP?
Is Toomey really the best that Pennsylvania can do?
Fox Business News dealt with the Toomey no vote. They describe Toomey as a staunch Free Trader who believes the Presidents nationalist / America First trade agenda is wrong.
They also highlighted the fact that he has received almost half a million dollars to his campaigns from US Chamber of Commerce types.
Is anyone writing about how productive Trump has been WITHOUT the help of the Senate or House? I mean, if anything, this whole impeachment thing shows really how worthless the Congress is in getting anything done.
Good argument to have Trump in office for life.
Four pretenders to the White House, some of the usual nitwits, not really any surprises.
A staunch conservative and opponent of Trump’s trade agenda, Toomey argued that provisions meant to boost wages in Mexico and raise the tariff-free threshold for autos would spike prices for American consumers.
“Outside of a few necessary modernizations and modest market access improvements for Pennsylvania's dairy farmers, USMCA is a step backwards and I could not support its passage,” Toomey said in a Thursday statement.
Is this true? If so would it be a concession we gave to get the overall deal done?
This is further proof that Ed “Mr. Frosty” Markey is a complete idiot. One of the big winners in this deal is the Port of Boston. Massport is expected to gain new cargo and transportation deals in supplying cities in New England. In case Markey forgot, The Port of Boston is in his home state. What an a-hole.
A staunch conservative and opponent of Trump’s trade agenda
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I disagree with that characterization.
Anyone who opposes America First is a globalist and Toomey has supported gun control, so he isn’t a staunch conservative (unless you believe Bush League Republicans are conservative)
Toomey, a conservative? BS! He’s a backstabbing ‘RAT in a Republican jersey. JMHO, of course.
Your second paragraph is baffling. Does the U.S. Chamber of Commerce actually oppose the USMCA?
SADLY, he may be as good a R as Pennylvania can give.
With Philadelphia as such a juggernaut demorat vote machine, sadly PA is always gonna be stuck with liberal republiturds.
Toomey appeared a good, mostly solid R, sadly he let’s conservatives down many times!
Yes. The US Chamber of Commerce have been vocally opposed to president Trumps America First agenda from day one. They are all in with the Globalist Agenda. As is Toomey.
If Aliens came to earth and took these 10 traitors away for scientific experiments with zero chance of the traitors ever returning:
Our world, country and universe would be a better place.
AT least he’s better than Casey, right?
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