Post by unlawflcombatnt on Apr 6, 2007 3:09:21 GMT -6
Below are excerpts from a very encouraging article regarding the new Congress's opposition to free trade. The article written by Mark Drajem for Bloomberg is titled Rangel Says Trade Negotiations Hampered by Wariness in Congress
"March 13 (Bloomberg) -- House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel said he is having a tougher time negotiating with his fellow Democrats over trade agreements than he is with the Republican Bush administration....
``The problem I've had to deal with is the terribly negative view trade has,'' among Democrats, Rangel said in a speech in Washington. ``I was amazed at the number of members who won just by running against trade.''
Agreement on labor standards between Congress and the administration is crucial to the fate of these agreements as well as the renewal of President George W. Bush's ``fast-track'' trade negotiating authority, which expires at the end of June. That authority smoothes the negotiating process by allowing the administration to work out trade agreements that Congress must accept or reject without amendment.
After the Democrats took control of Congress, Rangel, from New York, demanded that Schwab strengthen provisions requiring U.S. trading partners to follow standards of the International Labor Organization forbidding child, forced and prison labor, outlawing discrimination and assuring the right to organize....
Even as Rangel tries to work out that long-standing complaint of Democrats, others criticisms are joining the queue....
Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and other freshman Democrats demanded a meeting with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana to discuss trade policy.
``Years of job killing trade agreements are taking their toll on workers and small business owners,'' Brown said in a statement. In addition to stronger labor protections, Brown said he wants trade pacts to address income inequality in the U.S. and abroad. "
"March 13 (Bloomberg) -- House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel said he is having a tougher time negotiating with his fellow Democrats over trade agreements than he is with the Republican Bush administration....
``The problem I've had to deal with is the terribly negative view trade has,'' among Democrats, Rangel said in a speech in Washington. ``I was amazed at the number of members who won just by running against trade.''
Agreement on labor standards between Congress and the administration is crucial to the fate of these agreements as well as the renewal of President George W. Bush's ``fast-track'' trade negotiating authority, which expires at the end of June. That authority smoothes the negotiating process by allowing the administration to work out trade agreements that Congress must accept or reject without amendment.
After the Democrats took control of Congress, Rangel, from New York, demanded that Schwab strengthen provisions requiring U.S. trading partners to follow standards of the International Labor Organization forbidding child, forced and prison labor, outlawing discrimination and assuring the right to organize....
Even as Rangel tries to work out that long-standing complaint of Democrats, others criticisms are joining the queue....
Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and other freshman Democrats demanded a meeting with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana to discuss trade policy.
``Years of job killing trade agreements are taking their toll on workers and small business owners,'' Brown said in a statement. In addition to stronger labor protections, Brown said he wants trade pacts to address income inequality in the U.S. and abroad. "