Posted on 06/12/2015 2:35:03 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The House of Representatives will vote Friday on a bill to establish what's called TPA, or trade promotion authority. A yes vote would be a huge win for conservatives, free-market principles and American leadership. Still, there's a lot of confusion out there about what exactly TPA is.
It's not a trade deal, but a process in Congress for considering trade deals. Sounds complicated, I know, but it's actually pretty simple. If Congress establishes TPA, the public will be able to read the text of a trade deal well before Congress votes on it. So if you want to know more about all these trade deals being negotiated, you should support TPA.
Here's why we need it. Under the Constitution, the president can negotiate a trade deal whenever he wants, however he wants, with whomever he wants. But no deal can become law unless Congress approves it. This division of power makes other countries think twice. They don't want to make concessions to the president only to see Congress rewrite the deal. So for almost all of the past 80 years, Congress has used TPA or a process like it to maximize the U.S.'s leverage at the negotiating table.
Here's how it works. Under TPA, when the president submits a trade deal, it gets an up-or-down vote — but only on three conditions.
First, the deal must be consistent with nearly 150 negotiating objectives set by Congress beforehand. Second, the president must consult with Congress throughout the negotiations. Third, the president must make the text of the deal public for 60 days before he signs it, so people can read it themselves. In the end, Congress gets the final say. Whatever the proposed changes are to the law, Congress must approve them.
When people say they're against TPA, they're often confusing it with TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (an unfortunate choice of acronyms, I know). The TPP is a trade deal the U.S. is negotiating with 11 other countries on the Pacific Rim. Nobody should be for or against the TPP agreement at this point because it doesn't exist yet — it's still being negotiated. That's why we need to establish TPA first — the negotiations would never finish without it.
Here's what will happen if the House establishes TPA.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership will not become law. TPA will not approve TPP; it will only strengthen the U.S.'s hand in the TPP negotiations. The participating countries will know the U.S. is acting in good faith, and they'll put their best offers on the table.
The administration, meanwhile, will have to follow a list of specific requirements. Every member of Congress will get to read the current draft of the TPP agreement. Every member will also get regular briefings on the latest state of play and even get to attend negotiating rounds in person.
When the deal's done, the president will have to publish the full text of the TPP agreement. Then and only then, the deal will go to Congress, where your elected representatives will get to vote it up or down.
Many critics say they don't like TPA because they don't know what's in it. But the full text of TPA is available online; you can read the whole thing yourself. For instance, here's section 108, clause (a), which reaffirms U.S. sovereignty: "No provision of any trade agreement entered into under section 103(b), nor the application of any such provision to any person or circumstance, that is inconsistent with any law of the United States, any State of the United States, or any locality of the United States shall have effect."
Many of the president's critics are rightly concerned that he too often keeps Congress in the dark. But TPA will turn on the lights. What TPA says to the president is pretty straightforward: "No backroom deals or secret handshakes. Show us the deal, and we'll vote on it." In short, TPA will hold the president accountable, and that's why we need it ASAP.
Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Second, the president must consult with Congress throughout the negotiations.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!
Good luck getting that to happen with Mr. Pen and Phone...
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!
No backroom deals.......but you had to go down into the basement to read it, you could take notes but the notes had to remain there, and you had to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Yeah....we misunderstand the TPA. It’s a binding framework under which future pacts are to be handled. 51 votes to pass, 60 to deny. No amendments. So Obama can put in things like banning importation of ammunition, or foreign guns, or similar. There are a plethora of things he can seed in these agreements that CoC RINOs want and are willing to allow our freedoms to further erode.
There is NOTHING so urgent about this that it cannot wait until this tyrant is gone. There is nothing so urgent we need to pass it (or virtually obligate future pacts to be dictated) that we cannot wait on.
Cruz, Walker, Ryan, Rubio - whoever that supports this at this point in time are WRONG. You can’t put enough perfume on this turd to make it smell better.
These fools think obama is a real president. He isn’t - at least not like any we’ve ever had. Yet, they skip merrily along acting like he is a normal president. FOOLS - all of them.
FUPR
Giving Onama ANYTHING gives him carte blanch.
Bullshite, Ryan.
No way, no how and NEVER for this treasonous, lying sobee.
He cannot wait to strip the supremacy of our Constitution from us and to negotiate the changes he cannot legally pass.
You Republicans are dumber than a bag of rocks.
Vote NO to this crap.
Never give a RINO an inch.
Never, ever!!!
NEVER!!!!
Well said.
There is nothing so urgent about this, that requires a single new bill.
Especially a large, completely secret montrosity.
Vote NO.
How tone deaf and utterly out of touch is he and the rest of them?
Our objections are not about giving a president the ability to negotiate.
Our objections are not about facilitating trade with other countries.
Every single trade treaty has decimated Americas workers. EVERY ONE OF THEM.
Every single official has lied in the past about the effects.
How do you not hear us when we tell you that we DO NOT believe you, that the lies of the White House and Congress have become too much for us to bear.
Do not make the mistake of thinking you control the population simply because you control the media. Do not make the mistake of thinking you control the people because you have the firepower.
Force and lies will ultimately come back to haunt you.
Not picking you out on purpose, just back online, so what is your next move?
‘Peace in our time’, ‘I can work with Hitler’
You have to admire Obama and his enablers, the U.S. chamber of Commerce, for sneaking in amnesty for illegal alien workers into the trade bill.
Ryan should be run out of office as Cantor was. He is a mole for this Communist president.
Call your Congressman today and tell them to vote against the trade bill. It’s another Middle Class jobs killer.
We Have To Pass The Health Care Bill So You Can Find Out What's In It.
It’s so good it’s secret.
Ryan
and
Lyin'
>> Sounds complicated, I know, but it’s actually pretty simple.
Translation: you’re too stupid to understand any of this... just think as your betters tell you to think and you’ll be OK.
>> Third, the president must make the text of the deal public for 60 days before he signs it, so people can read it themselves.
So what? The sheep can read how they’ll get slaughtered, but they won’t be able to change one iota of the bill!
What kind of benefit is that?
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