You’ve probably been hearing warnings about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) “trade” agreement that is being negotiated. And you might have heard that the big corporations are going to push to use something called “fast track” trade promotion authority (TPA) to push it through.It’s time to learn about TPP and fast track, and then call your member of Congress to let them know if you want them to hand the giant multinationals an end-run around democracy and national sovereignty.

The Fast Track Push Is Coming

“Fast track” trade promotion authority, if passed, means Congress yields its constitutional authority and obligation to review and amend trade agreements. A “fast track” treaty has to be voted on quickly, cannot be amended, and Congress has to give it an up-or-down vote.

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman is pushing Congress to pass “fast track,” in hope of pushing through the TPP agreement by the end of the year. Politico lays it out, in “Froman pushing Congress to finalize trade deals,”

President Barack Obama was often criticized in his first term for moving too slowly on trade, but now his chief negotiator is pressing Congress to pick up the pace as the White House pushes to conclude a landmark trade deal in the Asia-Pacific by the end of the year.

[. . .] Froman and his team at USTR are pushing to finish the TPP talks by the end of the year, putting pressure on Congress to move a TPA bill to set the stage for the final phase of talks.

Fast Track To Push TPP

The next “trade” treaty will be the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This is a huge treaty with only a small part covering trade. Most of the agreement (according to leaks) sets down a new kind of regulatory structure for the giant corporations that would supersede the ability of any country to rein them in. The treaty is being negotiated in secret with only business interests “at the table.” Representatives of others with a stake in the outcome are not part of the process. Groups representing the interests of consumers, labor, human rights, the environment, democracy or even smaller and innovative companies that might want to compete with the giant multinationals are not part of the negotiations.

Economist Dean Baker explains that TPP is not about “free trade” and growth, writing,

Of course the TPP is not about free trade, in most cases the formal trade barriers between the countries negotiating the pact are relatively low. The main thrust of the negotiations is to impose a regulator structure in a wide range of areas — health, safety, environmental — which will override national and sub-national rules. This has little to do with trade and in some cases, such as the increased patent protection for prescription drugs being pushed as part of the deal (which is noted in the article), will actually involve increased barriers to trade.

In The Trans-Pacific Partnership: A Trade Agreement for Protectionists, Baker writes, “The

TPP is about crafting rules that will favor big business at the expense of the rest of the population in both the United States and in other countries.

… The world has benefited from the opening of trade over the last four decades. But this opening has been selective so that, at least in the United States, most of the gains have gone to those at the top. It is possible to design trade deals that benefit the population as a whole, but not when corporate interests are literally the negotiators at the table.

Continue reading TPP/Fast Track Trade Fight Is On →

Warren, Sanders Ready to Face Down Obama over Social Security, Medicare Cuts

– Jacob Chamberlain, staff writer

By Don Hopey / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Clean Water Action has filed a federal lawsuit against Waste Treatment Corp., alleging the commercial water treatment facility in Warren is illegally discharging gas drilling wastewater containing high levels of salts, heavy metals and radioactive compounds into the Allegheny River.

The statewide environmental organization, which filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in Erie, said the company has violated its discharge permit limits more than 400 times since 2010.

Despite those violations, and the ongoing 200,000-gallon-a-day discharge of drilling wastewater containing 125,000 pounds of salt, the state Department of Environmental Protection has not taken any effective action to stop the pollution, said Myron Arnowitt, Clean Water Action state director.

“You hear all the time that gas drilling wastewater doesn’t end up in our rivers anymore. However, this is one case in which it clearly is,” Mr. Arnowitt said.

A 2012 DEP study, cited in the lawsuit filing, found levels of chloride, bromide, lithium, strontium, radium-226 and radium-228 downriver from the plant that were more than 100 times higher than those found upriver from the plant.

The Allegheny River is the drinking water source for several public water suppliers, including the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, which has 400,000 customers.

The Waste Treatment Corp. treatment plant was one of 16 water treatment plants that were asked by then DEP Secretary Michael Krancer and Gov. Tom Corbett in April 2011 to “voluntarily” stop disposing of drilling wastewater. The DEP had said that all complied, including the eight of those discharging upriver from Pittsburgh’s drinking water intake pipe in Aspinwall.

Continue reading Lawsuit to Stop Frack Dumping in Allegheny River →

Republicans are demanding cuts in Social Security and Medicare if Democrats want to change the terms of the “sequester.” I’m sure their Tea Party “base” would be shocked if they understood this. So would most Americans. So is the media giving Americans the information they need in order to make informed decisions?

Yesterday The Hill reported, in “House GOP says sequester is leverage in next budget battle,” that House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan is pushing for cuts in Social Security and Medicare:

In a meeting with House conservatives, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), told rank-and-file lawmakers that, as the party’s chief budget negotiator, he would push instead [of killing Obamacare] for long-term reforms to entitlement programs in exchange for changes to sequestration spending cuts that Democrats are expected to demand.

[. . .] Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) said that during the GOP meeting, Ryan pointed to sequestration as the party’s leverage with Democrats and said the Republican negotiators would not accept revenue increases in exchange.

“We’re going to try to push for some substantial reforms on entitlement spending and our backstop is sequestration,” Salmon said in describing Ryan’s remarks.

Most American’s don’t read The Hill. And most Americans don’t know that “long-term reforms” to “entitlement spending” specifically means cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

Continue reading Rothfus Tea Party Demand: Cut Social Security & Medicare →

States across the country are being told to stop the supplemental nutrition assistance program for the month of November, pending further notice.

That’s according to a letter from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (See letter below.) Fox 13 obtained a copy from the Crossroads Urban Center in downtown Salt Lake City. Crossroads says if families don’t get food stamps, they’ll turn to the local food pantries, which are already strapped due to the government shutdown. Homeless people Fox 13 talked to, some who use SNAP, say losing food stamps would mean going hungry.

“This is going to create a huge hardship for the people we serve here in our food pantry,” says Bill Tibbits who is the Associate Director at Crossroads Urban Center.

People out on the streets like Richard Phillips says, “It could impact us and it’s going to cause problems because you’re going to come to find out that people are going to steal and do what they have to do to survive.”“People out here are going to go without food,” says Loralee Smith whose been homeless since August and says the uncertainty is making her uneasy about where her next meal will come from. “I’m on food stamps, I don’t know if I’m going to get them, a lot of people are on food stamps and they don’t know if they’re going to get them.”

Others say if SNAP shuts down, they’ll find a way to feed themselves.

“There’s always food pantries to go to, to get food,” says Mason who is homeless and relies on food stamps. However, Crossroads says there’s no way they could handle the increase if food stamps go away.

“We’ll be affected because if people, if a family doesn’t get food stamp benefits, they’re going to come here,” says Tibbits. “Wee can’t, there’s no way we could deal with it.”

The local pantries are already feeling the pinch because WIC, a federal program which provides baby formula and food to families in need has been affected by the shutdown. With SNAP on the chopping block temporarily, Crossroads fears their shelves will soon be empty.

http://fox13now.com/2013/10/14/utah-families-on-food-stamps-could-be-cut-off-soon/

With the ugly government shutdown headed into its third week, Senate leaders are said to be close to a deal that could avert the unimaginable – the default on U.S. debt that could easily drive the world economy into depression.

Even if senators reach a deal today, it is yet unclear whether House Speaker John Boehner will bring it to a vote in the House. Republicans may be plummeting in the polls, but the jihad faction of the Republican House remains unrepentant. Rep. Raul R. Labrador (R-Idaho) denounced Senate Republicans for “pussyfooting around” in the budget battle, scorning them for “always wanting to have a fight the next time.” With Tea Party members threatening a primary challenge for anyone who votes for the potential deal, Boehner will have to bring forth a measure likely to be opposed by a majority of his caucus and relying on Democratic votes to pass.

The House zealots are certifiable, but they set up the age-old good cop/bad cop routine for Senate Republicans. Republicans are plummeting in the polls. Anyone with a clue – which may barely reach a majority in the Republican caucus – knows that forcing a default on U.S. debts is utterly self-destructive folly. But Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell uses the Tea Party’s fulminations to seek more concessions from Democrats.

So before hailing the rescue, it is worth considering what a sensible outcome to this contrived crisis would be.

First, a minimum requirement would be to end the hostage-taking that uses the threat of default to extort concessions. At the least, that would require lifting the debt ceiling to a level that would cover debts that Republicans have already voted for through the end of next year – and after the midterm elections, when voters can make their views known.

Second, a sensible agreement would reopen government for the year, funded at a level somewhere between that proposed by the Republican House and the Democratic Senate. The figure would be far below what is needed to get the economy going, but would at least keep the doors open.

Continue reading Keith Rothfus Misdeal on Budget →