Senate Caves on Fast Track

Senate Caves on Fast Track

by Stephen Lendman

It's all over but the impending disaster awaiting US consumers and the environment.

After cloture ended debate on Tuesday, Senate members overwhelmingly caved to corporate predators, giving them the right to plunder freely - their top priority to profit hugely by ripping off consumers, compromising digital freedom, polluting the environment and overriding national laws for their own benefit.

House members caved days earlier. Overwhelming popular sentiment didn't matter. Congress handed corporate predators blank check authority to do any damn thing they wish - no matter the harm to consumers, the environment or rule of law.

Souls sell cheap in Congress. Profiles in courage are few and far between. House and Senate members don't represent constituents who elected them.

They're beholden solely to big monied interests bribing them with campaign cash and other benefits. Betraying the public interest comes easy. America's political system is too corrupted to fix.

When trillions of dollars are spent benefitting super-rich interests exclusively along with endless wars for global dominance, it's time for revolutionary change.

Fast track passage virtually assures TTP, TTIP, and TISA enactment - three hellish trade bills responsible societies wouldn't tolerate.

Despite her silence and populist pretense, Hillary Clinton notoriously supports rapacious trade deals. She once called TPP "the gold standard in trade agreements." Husband Bill was responsible for NAFTA's destructiveness.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) commented on Congress' sellout saying it abandoned "its own constitutional mandate over trade" and handed Obama Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) he'll "sign…into law as early as (Wednesday night) or later this week.

EFF put on a brave face saying despite defeat, the "fight against undemocratic, corporate-driven trade agreements should not be counted as failure."

Redoubtable efforts by EFF, Global Trade Watch and other consumer groups reaffirmed the power of public sentiment to delay "passage of (TPP) for so many months."

Lawmakers and Obama were on the defensive "like never before." Multinational TPP talks stalled.

US "trading partners were not willing to continue talks and concede to worse digital regulations as long as it seemed that the US Congress had the opportunity to second-guess the agreed language later."

"Now that Fast Track passed, TPP negotiations will likely resume in the coming weeks."

The battle for justice continues, EFF stressed. The one positive development from Fast Track's passage is it forces the White House to reveal final TPP, TTIP and TISA (services agreement) texts 60 days before Congress votes up or down for ratification.

With complete knowledge of fine print in these measures, opponents will be better able to contest them.

"When the veil of secrecy is finally lifted, the president, the US Trade Representative, and all other (hellish trade bill supporters) will no longer have anything to hide behind," EFF explained.

Their hollow statements about consumer benefits will be exposed as Big Lies - even though momentum for enactment looks unstoppable.

If judged by its failure to serve all its citizens equitably, America is a failed state - a hugely corrupted lawless one beholden solely to powerful monied interests running everything for their own exclusive benefits.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen [at] sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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