In a last-hour attempt to stop the U.S. Senate from committing a most dangerous act, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has once again taken the heroic stance of lone warrior, warning fellow Republicans against giving President Obama Trade Promotion Authority (TPA, aka Fast Track). After weeks of complicated maneuvering and a confusing jumble of votes, the stand-alone TPA bill passed by the House last week is set to go back to the Senate on Tuesday, for what could be the final vote to confer what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has admitted is “an enormous grant of power, obviously, from a Republican Congress to a Democratic president.”
Much has been learned in the past month since the Senate first approved Fast Track; there can now be no excuse for those who claim to support it under the false justification that it will facilitate trade and promote jobs.
“More than four weeks have passed since the Senate first voted on whether to grant the Executive six years of fast-track authority,” says Senator Sessions. “In that time, an enormous amount has been discovered about how the President plans to use this authority – information that was either not known or understood when the vote was held. This includes the Administration’s pledge to use the agreement to impose ‘environmental governance.’”
“It has become increasingly clear that the President’s Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is far more than a trade deal,” Sen. Sessionswrote in a Sunday op-ed for Breitbart.com. “It forms an enduring, self-governing political entity with vast regulatory power. Yet fast-track – which has led without fail to the adoption of every covered agreement since its inception – would rush it through with less legislative scrutiny than a Post Office reform bill.”
“Second chances do not come often,” Sessions noted. “We now have new information and a new vote. Which means the Senate has a second chance to slow down and demand answers about the President’s plans before agreeing to fast-track their adoption.”
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