For immediate release:
June 15, 2015
Washington, DC – Today, the US House of Representatives passed a “Fast-Track” bill that limits Congressional authority and oversight over international trade deals like the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Last week, the House stalled a vote on Fast Track when it voted against Trade Adjustment Assistance program, part of a package of trade bills. The vote today was an attempt to pass Fast Track on its own, a procedural maneuver that now sends Fast Track back to the Senate once again.
Statement from CIEL President & CEO Carroll Muffett:
Today’s rash, rushed and hastily-called vote on Fast Track is a testament to how trade proponents and the corporate polluters whose interests they promote view the democratic process – as a barrier to be avoided or subverted, rather than an essential part of a functioning democracy. The Administration and its industry allies don’t want public scrutiny for 21st century trade agreements for the simple reason that they cannot survive it. When the details of these deals are exposed to the light, the public outcry against them is immediate, intense and fully justified. The fight over Fast Track and the burden to show real leadership in support of better trade, not free trade, now shifts to the Senate. But regardless of that outcome, the fight over trade deals like TTIP and TPP won’t end until those deals are dramatically reformed or finally defeated.