Posted on 08/01/2002 2:33:14 PM PDT by StopDemocratsDotCom
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday handed President Bush his biggest legislative victory of the year by restoring the White House's authority to negotiate new trade pacts for the first time since 1994.
The Senate approved the trade promotion authority bill, just days after it squeaked through the House of Representatives by the narrow vote of 215-212.
The legislation now goes to Bush, who is expected to quickly sign it into law. He has pushed for the authority, also known as "fast track," since taking office 18 months ago.
The bill is critical to the Bush's ambitious trade agenda, which envisions a number of new bilateral, regional and global trade agreements by the end of his term in January 2005.
The bill allows Bush to negotiate trade agreements that Congress would have 90 days to approve or reject, but not amend. Supporters say that without the measure, countries will not negotiate seriously with the United States because of the fear Congress will change any provisions not to its liking.
Does anyone know if this TPA has a term limit on it?
I will be honest in saying I dont know alot about this sort of authority but I dont like any lone individual to hold sway over foreign trade [Even if it is GW].
Especially if that individual was a democrat.
Actually I think it has been proven in a court of law to be "smallish" and slightly "bent".
Congress still needs to APPROVE or DISAPPROVE of any trade agreements Bush negotiates-- they just can't modify them, it's yes or no. Bush does not have lone "sway" over anything.
And how does THIS negate the constitution?
Doesn't APPROVE or REJECT "regulate" commerce?
Doesn't NEGOTIATE indicate just that?
Onward Globalism! The profits for those who import are worth it! Let the stripmining of the American Middle and Lower classes gain full steam! This is good for us and we should shut up and take it!
The world has gotten smaller, and our ability to "employ" workers in foreign lands and raise their standard of living (and ours too, through lower prices) is a fact of life. We must not shut our borders.
The Senate has agreed in advance what the rules will be for considering trade legislation. Big deal.
The constitutional argument is a red herring deliberately dragged out there by people who know in advance that they don't like the legislation. It's bogus.
If they don't like the trade deal, they should tell their Senator to vote NO.
But this "Fast Track" garbage started with Richard M. Nixon.
He's the SOB that instituted wage and price controls which, combined with the Arab Oil Embargo, sent our nation into lenghty gas lines and the hyperinflation of the late '70s.
He's the SOB who "opened China" and initiated the demise of our nation's vital manufacturing infrastructure.
He's the SOB who signed OSHA and the EPA into existance.
He's the first GOP SOB I held my nose and voted for because I knew dang well I didn't want that socialist George McGovern.
I shoulda known better... I DID know better.
That stinkin' SOB had the audacity to assume the power to anounce (for political purposes) the 1969 NCAA Football national champion when the sportswriters were tied.
I knew right then and there that the SOB was nothing but a stinking, slimey crook. But I held my nose and voted for the SOB anyway.
Where's "Fast Track" gotten us in the last 30 years?
Oil imports have climbed from 30% to 65% of our usage.
We keep on getting involve in wars to assure a steady supply.
And the dang jobs keep going to China at a faster pace.
That dang "Fast Track" hasn't done us a bit of good. Not one dang bit.
Correction... Correction...Correction...
which envisions a number of new bilateral, regional and global trade agreements by the end of his first term in January 2005.
And you've been swallowing some globalist junk science.
The world is the same size it's always been throughout recorded history:
circumferance: 24,901.5 miles
diameter: Nearly 8,000 miles
surface area: 196,935,000 sq miles
percent of earth's ocean approximatly 70% *
percent of earth's land: approximatly 30%
highest point:Mt Everest 29, 028 above sea level
lowest point: Dead Sea 1,302 below sea level
* of the 70 percent of water;
97 percent is salt water,
3 percent is fresh water
The only thing that has changed is that Congress has placed our own natural resources comparatively off limits for utilization.
Let the other nations take care of themselves.
It's not up to us to try to "employ" the rest of the dang planet.
When Republicans held the Senate, even one voting Dem made legislation "bipartisan".
LOL......
YOUknow it's bogus.
*I* know it's bogus.
And silly me...I just thought I would try 'logic' on Mr. Green.
Lets see its gets 80-90% of Republicans and 25% of Democrats and you fault the media for saying it was largely on partisan lines. Duh? What am I missing? Passing on non-partisan lines would mean that 2/3 of both Republicans and Democrats voted for it. Geez, some people need to stay on their tranquilizers.
Dont worry about Willie. He wants the Dems to be able to hold every trade agreement hostage to the environmentalists and labor unions (international socialists of the world unite).
Isnt it just the Senate that needs to approve it like any other treaty?
Guess you are a little older than most of us Willie. More than half of this country wasnt born when Nixon was elected President, therefore I think a line from him forward qualifies as modern presidents. We have had seven presidents in the modern age including Nixon. Hell before Nixon, all the news film footage is black and white. Try telling a kid today that Ike or Truman were modern presidents.
How does fast track differ from any other treaty, for example nuclear test ban treaty? It doesnt. They are both treaties. One dealing with trade, the other with arms.
No one will negotiate with you, if the other side gets to negotiate their best deal, then have their congress make it even sweeter.
Sounds like taxation without representation to me.
Since when do corporations need the federal government to help them negotiate contracts with foreign suppliers?
They don't.
Tariffs should be our own domestic tax policy, determined by the elected representatives of We the People.
They shouldn't be something that the President uses to trot around the globe pretending he's a dang businessman.
God, please give us some more Republicans in November. I can't stand another two years like these last 6 months.
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