Oh, my, but this is entertaining:
When it comes to the most significant free trade deal in decades, the Democratic party is leaderless.
That much was clear Friday after House Democrats sunk the precursor to a fast-track trade measure hours after huddling with President Obama, his chief of staff, and the labor secretary in the basement of the Capitol to discuss one of the administration’s top priorities this year.
Democrats wouldn’t follow Obama’s lead. But it’s also not clear they followed House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in bringing down the measure known as Trade Adjustment Assistance. Though she announced at the last minute that she was voting against TAA, she personally negotiated the details of it with Speaker John Boehner.
For all the complaints about disorganized Republicans at loggerheads with each other, it does remain true that passing TPA in the House without also having to pass TAA (which was largely a protectionist and Big Labor subsidy) is actually not half bad, as results go. It certainly shifts ALL the problems of passing this legislation squarely onto the backs of Senate Democrats, which is just what they deserve. Because, hey, the GOP did their part for free trade. Not our fault that the Democrats have no leadership and no plan, right?
Moe Lane
So, wait .. San Fran Nan voted *against* a big-labor protection bill?
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That .. does not compute.
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Mew
She apparently didn’t think that Boehner would simply pass TPA on its own.
I’m .. really not sure why he did that .. can’t be anything *that* good in it for the base, he’s Boehner .. so what *is* in there?
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Mew
Now, my thought was that Obama’s party being the one to shoot him down would be a good thing. Apparently I got that wrong. Having the Republicans standing around and saying “Obstructionist? That’s those guys over there,” is a bad thing. Booting everything back to the Senate to re-work and see what they can pass before everyone bolts for the summer, and then sending it back down to the House before they skedaddle is now a bad thing.
I think that Congress really is the opposite, the antonym, of progress. It is the greatest pre-internet way of busily getting nothing done (just as the founders planned).
Pity for Obama that he never developed his ways of working Congress over that every other president has had to do. But, hey, that’s the price for being an arrogant ass.
Personally I think supporting Obamatrade is completely insane. I think the real reason why Democrats are not backing it, has to do with the 2016 elections, they feel a Republican may end up in the White House.
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1. A trade deal that is essentially a “living document” that the President could re-negotiate without approval from Congress. Anyone else see the problem?
2. This President has already shown a willingness to abuse his power, and this deal gives him more power.
3. This looks like Obamacare all over again, if this deal were really something that the public would support, then we would be allowed to see it…
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Furthermore I voted for Republicans in 2014 so that they would put a stop to Obama’s abuses of power, not so they could just eagerly hand him more power to abuse.