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| We Succeeded in Delaying Fast Track Today Expect more to come next week. |
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| While pro-Fast Track lawmakers suffered a defeat today, we are fully expecting them to revisit the issue next week.
What happened today? For Fast Track to advance to the President, the House needed to pass both Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) AND Fast Track since both were linked when they passed out of the Senate. A solid majority of lawmakers voted against the TAA measure. So, although Fast Track passed, the good news is that it remains stalled for the moment. |
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| Why did so many vote against Trade Adjustment Assistance? TAA provides a small degree of assistance when workers lose their jobs due to bad trade. Some Representatives opposed TAA because they just don’t believe in helping workers who are unfairly impacted. Others who would normally support TAA opposed it for the same reasons our union did: It is paid for with a cut to Medicare. It doesn’t fully cover enough impacted workers. It is not funded at a level that would cover the job losses that are expected from the trade deals that Fast Track will expedite. And, its defeat would mean stalling Fast Track for now.
What comes next? The Republican leadership is expected to bring up the TAA bill for a re-vote next week. And, even if that doesn’t work, reports are that they’ve got back-up plans for advancing Fast Track. We know this fight has been long, but the only reason we’ve been successful so far is because of your diligent work. Please stay ready to act on very short notice as this situation plays out over the weekend and into early next week. We’ll continue to need your help, and again, thank you for everything you’ve done to get us to this point! |
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