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Bill Moyers: Congress’s Cat Burglars Are Pulling a Fast One on TPP
Congress’s Cat Burglars Are Pulling a Fast One on TPP
June 22, 2015
by Bill Moyers and Bernard Weisberger
“With cat-like tread upon our foes we steal.” So boasted Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance as they decided to try a little burglary for a change. And “steal” is the appropriate word.
It’s hardly a surprise that Republican congressional leaders and their cadre of Democratic allies spurred on by Barack Obama are resorting to a bagful of parliamentary tricks to put the Trans-Pacific Partnership on a “take it or leave it but you can’t change it” fast-track to enactment by Tuesday.
No sooner had the first round gone to pro-democracy forces than Speaker Boehner – forever remembered as the man who handed out tobacco lobby checks to members on the House floor — promptly scheduled a new vote allowing time to bring pressure on naysayers.
Remember when Tom De Lay, the former House Republican majority leader used to stop the clock of a legislative day at five minutes to midnight, the lobbyists’ favorite witching hour? That way he could whipsaw doubters into line behind something President George W. Bush wanted but couldn’t get through Congress in the open. ...............(more)
http://billmoyers.com/2015/06/22/congresss-cat-burglars-are-pulling-a-fast-one/
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...International Business Times has just published a new report examining the known text of the TPP treaty that shows it would provide special legal rights to corporations that it denies to unions, small businesses and other public interest, environmental and civic groups.
...According to TPP’s defenders, it’s that other nations will refuse to participate in the treaty unless there’s a guarantee that its terms will not be changed by some future action of Congress.
Think about that for a minute!
The Congress of the United States — that’s our elected representatives, folks — has to guarantee forever and a day that future elected governments won’t be able to alter or even repudiate decisions made in 2015? Nonsense! When has that ever deterred sovereign nations from making good faith agreements with each other? Come to think of it, what sovereign would ever tie the hands of his descendants and future generations of his people in that way, much less a democratically elected leader?
...According to TPP’s defenders, it’s that other nations will refuse to participate in the treaty unless there’s a guarantee that its terms will not be changed by some future action of Congress.
Think about that for a minute!
The Congress of the United States — that’s our elected representatives, folks — has to guarantee forever and a day that future elected governments won’t be able to alter or even repudiate decisions made in 2015? Nonsense! When has that ever deterred sovereign nations from making good faith agreements with each other? Come to think of it, what sovereign would ever tie the hands of his descendants and future generations of his people in that way, much less a democratically elected leader?
