For Immediate Release
June 12, 2015
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congress voted against Trade Adjustment Assistance program, a program that would not sufficiently protect workers who lose their jobs due to trade. Because of this vote, the “fast-track” trade package is temporarily stopped.
In response, CIEL President and CEO Carroll Muffett released the following statement:
Today’s trade vote supports the unified call that literally thousands of public interest organizations – including environmental, labor, consumer, faith, digital rights, civil rights, human rights, immigrant, women’s, and public health groups – have been making over the past months. Today’s vote is a victory, if temporary, in the public interest – not just in the United States, but in the communities and ecosystems around the world where the impacts of these trade deals will be felt.
Now, it is time to put Fast Track to bed for good. We need better trade, not more “free trade.” We must limit corporate access to and control over trade deals, like the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) to ensure we do not delay, undermine, or reverse vital regulations on toxic chemicals and other threats to human health and the environment. The time has come for a new era in how we conduct trade in order to protect rights, people, and the environment.