House reverses course, passes ‘fast-track’ provision crucial for Trans-Pacific Partnership

[markpkessinger]

While we have all been grieving over the events in Charlston, House Republicans, along with 28 turncoat Democrats, found time to do this:

[font size=5]House reverses course, passes ‘fast-track’ provision crucial for Trans-Pacific Partnership[/font]

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday reversed course, approving “fast-track” legislation central to President Barack Obama’s trade deal with Pacific Rim nations and sending it back to the Senate.

The close vote in the House, which last week rejected a related bill, kept alive Obama’s goal of bolstering U.S. ties with Asia through a 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the economic element of a foreign policy shift aimed in part at countering the rising influence of China.

The House voted 218-208 to give Obama the fast-track authority to speed trade deals, including the TPP, to conclusion with reduced interference from Congress. The TPP would encompass 40 percent of the global economy and is close to completion.

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n an unusual alliance, the president and Republican House Speaker John Boehner turned last Friday’s loss into a win by excising the worker aid program that was voted down by the House. That neutralized the ability of some Democrats’ to use it to stymie fast-track, and capitalized on support from a bloc of 28 pro-trade Democrats.

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So basically, that vote last week amounted to nothing more than legislative theater. I don't think I've ever been so disgusted with the President. I keep thinking of all those folks who, during the President's first term, assured us, over and over, that in his second term, when he no longer had to worry about getting re-elected, we would finally see his true 'progressive' colors. Well, we've seen his true colors alright.

[hobbit709]

1. The corporate owners have spoken.

[markpkessinger]

2. Clearly n/t