Post by unlawflcombatnt on May 11, 2007 4:45:12 GMT -6
It appears the Democratic Party elites, especially those chairing committees, are ready to sell out rank-and-file Democratic voters as well as betraying the populist trend that helped them get elected in November. This is especially true when it comes to the issue of globalization and unrestricted free trade. Below are excerpts from the article by Robin Toner titled
For Democrats, New Challenge in Age-Old Rift.
"WASHINGTON, May 7 — Almost nothing rouses as much passion, anger or history for the Democrats as the issue of trade.
Defining the rules of engagement in a fiercely competitive global marketplace, trade policy cuts to the heart of the Democrats’ identity, how they view their party’s past and envision its future. It can divide them along regional and economic lines — Midwest vs. Pacific Rim, manufacturing vs. agriculture, Main Street vs. Wall Street.
Nobody knows this better than Representative Sander M. Levin, chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade and a 24-year-veteran of the House from the suburbs of Detroit.
Mr. Levin is one of the newly empowered Democratic leaders trying to find a trade policy that can unite their party and heal a painful rift between those who see a globalized economy as inevitable and good and those who see the cost under current policies, in lost jobs and unsettled lives, as simply too great....
Now, the issue poses one of the most important challenges for this new Democratic-led Congress — in some ways, as important to the soul of the Democratic Party as the struggle over the war in Iraq....The Ways and Means Committee, with sweeping jurisdiction over tariffs and trade for more than 200 years, is at the center of it....
Since the Democrats took control of the committee in January, the 75-year-old Mr. Levin has met with restless Democratic freshmen who helped their party regain the majority by promising to “do something” about the job losses caused by a globalized economy — and who now want to deliver....
Mr. Levin has delivered speeches and held hearings, trying to assure his party’s left that he understands the upheaval that trade can cause — he is, after all, from a state where the auto industry has been buffeted, for years, by global competition — while assuring centrists that neither he nor his party are protectionists.
This spring, Mr. Levin and his committee chairman, Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York, unveiled “A New Trade Policy for America,” a first effort at a grand compromise....
At the same time, Democratic leaders have engaged in talks with the Bush administration, which wants to win Congressional approval for several trade agreements now pending, including with Peru and Panama, and secure authority from Congress to negotiate more under special, fast-track procedures. In recent weeks, those talks have escalated between the administration and Mr. Rangel, who has repeatedly voiced his eagerness to forge a bipartisan trade policy.
All of this is playing out under the nervous, suspicious gaze of an army of interest and constituent groups, particularly on the left, where many fear the committee will eventually bow to the powerful interests on the protrade side. Organized labor in particular has been voicing concern in recent days.
“Sandy Levin sits on a committee that has tremendous pressure on it from Wall Street,” said Representative Marcy Kaptur, Democrat of Ohio and a longtime critic of American trade policy. “I hope he’ll be able to stand up for Main Street, but I don’t know.”....
The Ways and Means Committee has rarely been known as a hotbed of economic populism. Its new 24-member Democratic majority has a voting record that is significantly more protrade than the House Democratic caucus as a whole, concluded an analysis of 15 trade votes by I.M. Mac Destler, a professor of public policy at the University of Maryland and author of “American Trade Politics.”
And Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, many analysts say, is far friendlier to trade agreements than her predecessor as Democratic leader, Richard A. Gephardt.
Still, Mr. Levin and his fellow Democrats face a political backlash on trade and globalization as intense as it has been in years, a point underscored by the freshman class of 2006. Across the industrial heartland and the Northeast, those freshman campaigned on a scathing critique of American trade policies. How could Americans compete against workers in developing countries, they asked, while maintaining decent wages, health benefits and pensions?
“It’s an issue near and dear to our hearts, and one we feel we need to deliver change on,” said Representative Betty Sutton, a Democrat from northeast Ohio.
Ms. Sutton and her fellow freshmen have no seat on the committee — members usually wait for years to get one — but they quickly served notice they wanted to be consulted.
Mr. Levin....(states) Trade cannot be stopped, he says, but it cannot simply be left to the vagaries of a free market.
“You have to bring about an expansion of trade so it works better for many more people,” he said....
An internationalist like Mr. McDermott (D-WA) believes many voters are “re-evaluating” the idea that “everybody wins with trade,” a shift in thinking that is also under way among some liberal economists who had previously supported the idea that more trade is inherently good.
“You can’t stop globalization, I know that,” he said one day this spring, while a delegation of Indian parliamentarians waited to see him. “So then the question is, what do you do to try and make it possible for there to be more winners in this deal?”....
Against this backdrop, Mr. Levin and Mr. Rangel began shopping their trade proposal in March. One main provision would create an array of programs to help workers cope with the dislocations of a changing economy — from expanding education and training programs to shoring up the social safety net, including health, pension and income benefits....
Mr. Rangel’s negotiations with the administration have made many Democrats nervous. Representative Jim McCrery, the ranking Republican on Ways and Means, said his party was eager to work toward a bipartisan coalition. “I really do think there’s a way for us to strike a middle ground," said Mr. McCrery.
Mr. Destler, the University of Maryland professor, said the challenge for Democratic leaders was achieving a critical mass of Democratic support by winning enough from the administration to “credibly argue” that “they have brought about a significant shift in trade policy priorities.”
Mr. Levin outlined a broader goal — to spread the benefits of globalization. And, perhaps, to heal an old wound in his party, and its industrial base."
The full article can be found at
For Democrats, New Challenge in Age-Old Rift.
For Democrats, New Challenge in Age-Old Rift.
"WASHINGTON, May 7 — Almost nothing rouses as much passion, anger or history for the Democrats as the issue of trade.
Defining the rules of engagement in a fiercely competitive global marketplace, trade policy cuts to the heart of the Democrats’ identity, how they view their party’s past and envision its future. It can divide them along regional and economic lines — Midwest vs. Pacific Rim, manufacturing vs. agriculture, Main Street vs. Wall Street.
Nobody knows this better than Representative Sander M. Levin, chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade and a 24-year-veteran of the House from the suburbs of Detroit.
Mr. Levin is one of the newly empowered Democratic leaders trying to find a trade policy that can unite their party and heal a painful rift between those who see a globalized economy as inevitable and good and those who see the cost under current policies, in lost jobs and unsettled lives, as simply too great....
Now, the issue poses one of the most important challenges for this new Democratic-led Congress — in some ways, as important to the soul of the Democratic Party as the struggle over the war in Iraq....The Ways and Means Committee, with sweeping jurisdiction over tariffs and trade for more than 200 years, is at the center of it....
Since the Democrats took control of the committee in January, the 75-year-old Mr. Levin has met with restless Democratic freshmen who helped their party regain the majority by promising to “do something” about the job losses caused by a globalized economy — and who now want to deliver....
Mr. Levin has delivered speeches and held hearings, trying to assure his party’s left that he understands the upheaval that trade can cause — he is, after all, from a state where the auto industry has been buffeted, for years, by global competition — while assuring centrists that neither he nor his party are protectionists.
This spring, Mr. Levin and his committee chairman, Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York, unveiled “A New Trade Policy for America,” a first effort at a grand compromise....
At the same time, Democratic leaders have engaged in talks with the Bush administration, which wants to win Congressional approval for several trade agreements now pending, including with Peru and Panama, and secure authority from Congress to negotiate more under special, fast-track procedures. In recent weeks, those talks have escalated between the administration and Mr. Rangel, who has repeatedly voiced his eagerness to forge a bipartisan trade policy.
All of this is playing out under the nervous, suspicious gaze of an army of interest and constituent groups, particularly on the left, where many fear the committee will eventually bow to the powerful interests on the protrade side. Organized labor in particular has been voicing concern in recent days.
“Sandy Levin sits on a committee that has tremendous pressure on it from Wall Street,” said Representative Marcy Kaptur, Democrat of Ohio and a longtime critic of American trade policy. “I hope he’ll be able to stand up for Main Street, but I don’t know.”....
The Ways and Means Committee has rarely been known as a hotbed of economic populism. Its new 24-member Democratic majority has a voting record that is significantly more protrade than the House Democratic caucus as a whole, concluded an analysis of 15 trade votes by I.M. Mac Destler, a professor of public policy at the University of Maryland and author of “American Trade Politics.”
And Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, many analysts say, is far friendlier to trade agreements than her predecessor as Democratic leader, Richard A. Gephardt.
Still, Mr. Levin and his fellow Democrats face a political backlash on trade and globalization as intense as it has been in years, a point underscored by the freshman class of 2006. Across the industrial heartland and the Northeast, those freshman campaigned on a scathing critique of American trade policies. How could Americans compete against workers in developing countries, they asked, while maintaining decent wages, health benefits and pensions?
“It’s an issue near and dear to our hearts, and one we feel we need to deliver change on,” said Representative Betty Sutton, a Democrat from northeast Ohio.
Ms. Sutton and her fellow freshmen have no seat on the committee — members usually wait for years to get one — but they quickly served notice they wanted to be consulted.
Mr. Levin....(states) Trade cannot be stopped, he says, but it cannot simply be left to the vagaries of a free market.
“You have to bring about an expansion of trade so it works better for many more people,” he said....
An internationalist like Mr. McDermott (D-WA) believes many voters are “re-evaluating” the idea that “everybody wins with trade,” a shift in thinking that is also under way among some liberal economists who had previously supported the idea that more trade is inherently good.
“You can’t stop globalization, I know that,” he said one day this spring, while a delegation of Indian parliamentarians waited to see him. “So then the question is, what do you do to try and make it possible for there to be more winners in this deal?”....
Against this backdrop, Mr. Levin and Mr. Rangel began shopping their trade proposal in March. One main provision would create an array of programs to help workers cope with the dislocations of a changing economy — from expanding education and training programs to shoring up the social safety net, including health, pension and income benefits....
Mr. Rangel’s negotiations with the administration have made many Democrats nervous. Representative Jim McCrery, the ranking Republican on Ways and Means, said his party was eager to work toward a bipartisan coalition. “I really do think there’s a way for us to strike a middle ground," said Mr. McCrery.
Mr. Destler, the University of Maryland professor, said the challenge for Democratic leaders was achieving a critical mass of Democratic support by winning enough from the administration to “credibly argue” that “they have brought about a significant shift in trade policy priorities.”
Mr. Levin outlined a broader goal — to spread the benefits of globalization. And, perhaps, to heal an old wound in his party, and its industrial base."
The full article can be found at
For Democrats, New Challenge in Age-Old Rift.