Is "Bipartisan" Always A Curse Word These Days?

Yesterday AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka asked if the Obama Administration would be so relentlessly pushing a "free" trade agreement with Colombia if death squads had murdered 51 CEOs instead of 51 union activists. Obama's No Hope/No Change trade policies-- essentially identical to the economically catastrophic trade policies of Reagan, the two Bushes and Clinton (think NAFTA, CAFTA, China, WTO...)-- is one of the policies that makes it so hard for progressives to support his reelection bid. It's a transpartisan policy of the American Imperium, something Big Business, Wall Street and corporate America insist on-- from both parties-- as a bottom line for a continued flow of campaign contributions. And we're talking about billions of dollars in blatant, if legalistic, bribes. This kind of bipartisan agenda is almost always a catastrophe for working people. "Almost always?" Well, considering the Republican agenda of anti-democratic, anti-working family class war, when something is labeled "bipartisan," mistrust is a healthy reaction. The Alliance for American Manufacturing just hipped me to an exception. They're pumping for passage of legislation (the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Act of 2011) introduced by a bipartisan group of senators-- the good, the bad and the ugly-- led by Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Robert Casey (D-PA), and Richard Burr (R-NC) "to hold China accountable for its market-distorting, job-killing practice of currency manipulation."

In a letter of support AAM Executive Director Scott Paul pointed out that 2.8 million American jobs were lost or displaced over the last decade due to the growing U.S. trade deficit with China-- fueled by currency manipulation and that “The decimation of our middle-class, our manufacturing sector, and the American economy as a whole has come in large part because developing nations like China have used illegal currency manipulation and other aggressive, mercantilist tactics to tilt the playing field in their favor. This common-sense legislation would utilize our existing trade laws to provide a remedy for China’s market-distorting, job-killing practice of currency manipulation.”

Bringing the yuan to its equilibrium level-- a 28.5 percent appreciation-- would result in significant economic benefits for our economy, including:

•    The creation of up to 2.25 million American jobs;

•    An increase in U.S. GDP of $285.7 billion (1.9%);

•    A $190.5 billion reduction in our annual trade deficit; and

•    Annual deficit reduction of $71.4 billion, or between $621 to $857 billion over ten years, if sustained.

Said Paul, “The Senate must act because the White House has refused to act. China’s currency is more undervalued today than it was last year, which means American jobs are disappearing every day. China responds to consequences, and this legislation will make a real difference for American workers and businesses.”

The Senate is expected to take up the newly introduced currency legislation next week. The Senate approved currency legislation offered by Senators Schumer and Graham in 2005 by a vote of 67-23-- with the support of 29 Republicans. And last fall, the House passed a similar bill by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 348-79-- with 99 Republicans supporting the measure.

On the other hand, Obama doesn't have the votes he needs to pass his jobs bill-- not even in the Democratic-majority Senate-- where a different kind of conservative bipartisanship rules. Dick Durbin (D-IL): "There are some senators who are up for election who say I'm never gonna vote for a tax increase while I'm up for election, even on the wealthiest people. So, we're not gonna have 100% Democratic senators. That's why it needs to be bi-partisan and I hope we can find some Republicans who will join us to make it happen."