Rare Win for U.S. Workers—Trade Deal Defeated

By Joe Guzzardi
June 16, 2015

Understanding what happened Friday that led to a probable fatal blow to President Obama’s coveted Trans-Pacific Partnership trade initiative is complicated, but a triumph for concerned Americans who fear TPP would lead to further job displacement.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) came out strongly against what she considers an inadequate Trade Administration Assistance bill, urged slowing down fast-track and demanded “a better deal for American workers.” Shortly after Pelosi’s speech, the House overwhelmingly voted down a measure to provide financial assistance to displaced workers, 126-302. House members knew that vote would lead to fast-track’s defeat.

Even though the House subsequently passed Trade Promotion Authority 219-211, the floor debate rules require both provisions to pass before the measure can advance. For Obama, who lobbied heavily and invested significant political capital in the trade measure, the successful TPA vote was mostly symbolic.

Democrats and Republicans had different concerns. Most Democrats feared TPP and subsequent trade deals would shift jobs to other nations much as the North American Free Trade Agreement did years ago. Republicans worried that TPA would yield Congress' power to the Executive Branch and, thereby, make it impossible to stop a rush of still more foreign-born workers under so called "living agreements."  Obama would essentially have the power to negotiate immigration provisions without ceding to Congress, a danger given the president’s numerous unilateral executive actions.

Simply stated, Congress didn’t trust Obama on the immigration provisions. Several weeks ago, the Senate Finance Committee released a statement that the trade agreement could not include changes to immigration law, regulations, policy or practice. But last week, WikiLeaks revealed that the Obama administration had been secretly negotiating a Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) that included a section titled “Natural Movement of Persons,” which would allow for overseas workers “entry and temporary stay” that would include 40 categories of professions.

Among them are accountants, engineers, doctors, bankers, dentists, nurses, consultants, veterinarians, scientists, and leisure industry specialists—a laundry list of occupations that would jeopardize millions of Americans’ jobs. TiSA, written in secret and kept under wraps until WikiLeaks exposed it, would provide much cheaper foreign labor for participating corporations. By “natural movement” TiSA means minimizing if not eliminating visa requirements and face-to-face interviews that the participating countries view as “overly burdensome procedures.”

Beyond the indisputable fact that TPA represents a serious danger to American workers, it also adds to national security concerns. Three of the participating TiSA nations are Mexico, the big NAFTA winner, Turkey and Pakistan. Although Turkey is ostensibly a U.S. ally on Middle East-related issues, it has a history of harboring al Qaida and Hamas terrorists. As for Pakistan, earlier this year the State Department warned U.S. citizens to defer non-essential travel to that nation. Loosening visa restrictions, already too open to fraud, is a serious error made graver when potential enemies to America can enter more easily.

House Speaker John Boehner made vague references to possibly reconsidering a new vote in July to give the White House time to recover, but the inevitable outcome seems clear: a crushing Obama defeat inflicted mainly by members of his own party, and a victory, at least temporarily, for protecting American jobs.

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Joe Guzzardi is a Californians for Population Stabilization Senior Writing Fellow. Contact him at [email protected]