Democrats, Conflicted As Always, Sending Mixed Signals On Trade Policies

First the good news: House Democrats unveiled a series of proposals Wednesday that are meant to for the basis of a Make It In America agenda. Their proposals would aggressively boost manufacturing output and employment, something the GOP-controlled Congress has studiously ignored since taken control in January. I have to admit, though, that I was more than a little skeptical when I saw who was introducing the package: arch corporate shill Steny Hoyer, the Democrats' worst pig-at-the-trough when it comes to corporate handouts to sleazy Members of Congress. Hoyer was key, for example, in pushing through the catastrophic George H.W. Bush-Bill Clinton NAFTA bill that did more harm to the American middle class than any other legislation Congress has passed since the Robber Barons set the legislative agenda for Congress in the 1920's.

Because so many Democrats sold out and joined the anti-work Republican initiatives like NAFTA and CAFTA, the nation has seen a rush to the bottom in terms of employment opportunities. It's what Republicans are all about but it isn't what Democrats are supposed to do. So seeing a sleazy, corrupt character like Hoyer behind this made me wonder what it was really worth. I don't know if AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka sees through Hoyer or not but his statement emphasized that “This nation can no longer live on legacy. We need to invest trillions in the coming decades to build a 21st century infrastructure and we must ensure that we actually make the technology and materials for the things we are building and installing. The Make it in America agenda is a big step in the right direction to resolve our manufacturing crisis."

Yeah, that's the good news. The bad news is that Obama, another corporate Democrat out looking for campaign contributions from Big Business, is ready to sell out working families again, this time with George W. Bush's awful trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. They should all hit Congress today or tomorrow to the applause of Republicans and Blue Dogs and the dread of real Democrats. I'm guessing Hoyer's Make It In America push is a smokescreen to placate easily placatable Beltway "liberal" organizations.

The White House completed work on the Korean deal in December and wrapped up final details with Panama last month. The administration has pushed for Congress to act quickly on the Korean accord, but Republicans threatened to stop all trade-related nominations unless the Colombia and Panama deals were also sent for approval.

The Colombia deal is more controversial with Democrats and organized labor because of charges that that country’s government has not done enough to convict those responsible for violence against union organizers.

Trade officials announced the deal with Colombia last month but made the agreement contingent on Colombia's fulfillment of several more requirements regarding the nation's labor laws.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk sent a letter to leaders of the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees Wednesday indicating that Colombia has taken the necessary steps consistent with the action plan set out by the two countries. [Anyone who follows trade policy knows Kirk is full of shit and more likely to shoot a union organizer himself than get a real agreement out of union-hating Colombian fascists.]

“Today’s announcement is a critical victory in our efforts to pass the Colombia Free Trade Agreement and for U.S. ranchers, farmers and manufacturers,” Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said in a statement. “This trade agreement means new jobs for American workers and a $2.5 billion economic boost for the U.S. economy.”

Leading House Democrats on trade matters expressed concerns over the agreement. 

"The question raised by the U.S.-Colombia [free trade agreement] is will workers be able to exercise their basic internationally-recognized rights and be free from the threat of violence?" said House Ways and Means ranking member Sander Levin (D-Mich.) and Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), ranking member for the Subcommittee on Trade, in a statement. "That question has not been answered yet and we intend to continue aggressively focusing on strengthening and implementing the action plan.” 

McDermott and Levin said U.S. workers should not have to "compete with workers whose rights are suppressed, or who are killed in the exercise of those rights.

...An official at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said there could be a “grand bargain” on trade.

“In the weeks ahead, the United States has a chance to move forward in a bipartisan fashion to secure approval of the pending trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama,” John Murphy, vice president for international policy at the Chamber, said in a blog post.

"Bipartisan" means all the shills in both parties who take bribes from Big Business will back it. It's why Blue America puts a premium on BETTER rather than just MORE Democrats. New Mexico state Senator Eric Griego definitely fits into the BETTER category and he's running for the Albuquerque-based House seat Martin Heinrich is giving up to run for the open U.S. Senate seat. DownWithTyranny is endorsing him today and we asked him for his views on this trade stuff, an area he has spent his whole political life working on. He worked on the so called "side agreements" to the NAFTA on labor and environmental standards during his career in Washington in the 1990's and he cautioned that "We should not accept agreements that do not require enforceable labor and environmental standards that are subject to the same sanctions as unfair trade practices for goods and services. If we are willing to force trading partners to protect patents and market access for our goods and services, we should be willing to make them protect workers and the environment from a race to the bottom."

You can probably tell from just those few lines why we're so excited about his campaign. You can read more about Eric at his website and at the Albuquerque DFA website. Please take a look at an announcement video: