BUSH REGIME TRADE POLICIES STILL UNDERMINING AMERICAN WORKING FAMILIES

Yesterday I went to a progressive think tank where, among other topics, the Colombia "Free Trade" Pact was discussed. Perhaps you saw the post I put together fresh from the meeting. Jane added far more information about how the right wing propaganda machine is trying to spin this over at FDL. This morning I got a note from Mark Schauer, the Blue America-endorsed progressive running against far right rubber stamp Tim Walberg in Michigan's 7th CD, an area that has been especially hard hit by Bush's (and Clinton's) trade policies.

"In the midst of economic crisis, at a time when Americans are increasingly uncertain about their jobs and futures, the President decided that more outsourcing is the answer," Schauer said. "This treaty encourages American employers to take their operations overseas and pay their workers less. We should be protecting American jobs-- not doing everything we can to get rid of them. By sending this bill to Congress President Bush proved that he is as out of touch as his critics say he is... When our leaders are prioritizing big business and foreign countries over the interests of the middle class, it's clear that we need change. "I'm running for Congress because we deserve leaders who understand that American jobs are a priority."

Schauer is signaling that he will stand up for working families, not just against the Bush Regime, but against slimy corporate Democrats like Rahm Emanuel and Melissa Bean and the nefarious Blue Dog caucus busy taking in legalized corporate bribes hand over fist to support this garbage treaty, a treaty which makes it impossible for Americans to compete because of intolerable work conditions and pitiful wages in Colombia. Bush, Clinton, Emanuel and the Blue Dogs have undermined the very soul of middle class America with their accursed trade policies and it has as much to do with the current two-tier economy as the rest of the Bush agenda.

Fortunately, Speaker Pelosi's progressive roots are showing. She has vowed to block Bush's rampage against American workers and will not allow this trade pact to come up for a vote. Ironically she is also saving Blue Dogs from themselves as they were in a precarious situation, having taken huge amounts of "contributions" from corporate lobbyists eager to see this crap pass but being pressured by furious voters that the treaty be rejected. I was eager to see what Melissa Bean's clueless little blue puppy Bill Foster would have done. Nancy saved his ass from himself.

Another Blue America-endorsed candidate Dennis Shulman is also perfect on trade policy. But then he has a family member who is working full time on this, his daughter Holly. For more information on the ins and outs of this treaty Holly's Public Citizen blog, Eyes on Trade is right in the thick of it. And, wisely, David Sirota is cautious and wary.


UPDATE: MAYBE I WAS TOO FAST TO PRAISE PELOSI?

Today's CongressDaily ran a story exposing what the Democratic House leadership may be up to-- wait til after the November elections, so that Blue Dogs get to keep their corporate bribes without pissing off their benefactors but still get to keep their House seats by not pissing off voters before the election.

House Democratic leaders are seriously considering delaying a vote on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement until after the November elections, thereby providing needed cover for vulnerable rank-and-file members, according to senior Democratic leadership sources.

"It is under serious consideration," said a top Democratic leadership aide who confirmed the plan. "It is an attempt to try and divine a way forward. We are not happy with the way this was sent up here."

...Aides said that a plan to bring the measure to the floor under the procedural cover of delaying the vote to a date-certain after the November election is gaining momentum... Sources in the Republican and Democratic leadership as well as the business community confirmed that Democrats have been attempting to sell the move to business interests as simply a procedural vote that would ultimately allow for a vote on the trade deal.

...[W]ith the campaign season in full swing, labor unions are launching an all-out effort to kill the agreement. "The AFL- CIO is strongly opposed to the Colombia FTA and will mobilize with all of our might to defeat it," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in a statement. Change to Win, the other major union coalition, sent a letter to all members of Congress Tuesday demanding they vote against the pact.

Meanwhile, Hillary points out that she disagrees (not just with her semi-fired chief strategist, craven lobbyist Mark Penn but) with her corporatist husband, who netted many, many many millions of dollars last year working in the interests of big corporations, when it comes to the Colombia pact. Predictably, he supports it and she... sees the wisdom of saying she agrees with the vast majority of American voters.


UPDATE: BUSH REGIME IN A SNIT ABOUT THE DELAY BUT PELOSI ASSURES THEM THERE'S NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT

According to CongressDaily, corporate hack and Bush Regime Trade Rep Susan Schwab said today's decision by Pelosi to indefinitely delay a vote on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement "could have broader implications for the United States trade agenda as well as deal a blow to [what he calls] "a strong ally" in Latin America. "This could be devastating not just to the Colombia FTA but to broader U.S. trade policy going forward, on our ability to negotiate and implement agreements that are of benefit to U.S. workers, that are of benefit to U.S. farmers and entrepreneurs," Schwab said just after the news broke. "The Colombia FTA deserves a vote. Colombia is an important country in a critical region for the United States and deserves to be treated with respect."

Apparently understanding the devastating impact Bush's trade policies have had on most working Americans and on our economy are too complex for Schwab. Needless to say, assassinations of Colombian trade unionists and their families mean even less to this ultimate corporate whore. Maybe she should consult Lisa Bear-Stearns or Fred Morgan-Stanley.

Labor unions are grateful that Pelosi put it on hold but many progressives are suspicious, as I mentioned earlier, that she is simply trying to protect Blue Dogs from their own constituents and that the treaty will be approved after the election. This was bourne out late this afternoon by James Moran (D-VA), a close Pelosi ally who supports the pact.

Moran was confident that House leaders would schedule a vote on the trade pact in a post-election session, when wavering members would be more willing to support it. "I think there'll be a vote in the latter part of November, or early December," he said, adding it would likely be approved in those circumstances.

Meanwhile, here's a statement from Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch Director Lori Wallach on Pelosi's announcement.

We applaud House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for reasserting congressional authority over trade by removing Fast Track treatment from the Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Public Citizen will apply its full resources to ensure that the Colombia Free Trade Agreement is defeated by Congress.

The United States should never have negotiated a trade agreement with Colombia, a country with a shameful record of labor leader assassinations and systematic violence against Afro-Colombian communities whose current government has been linked to deadly right wing paramilitaries.

The Colombia FTA includes the most egregious provisions of NAFTA, including extraordinary foreign investor protections that promote offshoring of U.S. jobs and expose domestic health and environmental laws to attack in foreign tribunals; and agriculture rules that will devastate hundreds of thousands of subsistence farmers in Colombia, making them poorer and undermining U.S. security interests in the region. The deal also replicates NAFTA's limits Buy America and green procurement policies and on imported food safety and inspection requirements.

UPDATE: BLUE DOGS SNARLING

So which reactionary Democrats Blue Dogs voted against Speaker Pelosi's ultimately successful attempt to postpone the vote on the Colombian Trade pact? No surprises here: Melissa Bean (IL), Dan Boren (OK), Allen Boyd (FL), Jim Cooper (TN), Bud Cramer (AL), Henry Cuellar (TX), Baron Hill (IN), Nick Lampson (TX), Tim Mahoney (FL) and Jim Matheson (UT). John Tanner (TN) voted "present."