Fast Facts on Fast Track
• The House of Representatives will debate whether to give "Fast Track" trade negotiating authority to the President. Under Fast Track procedures, the President negotiates trade agreements and sends them to Congress for approval, but Congress has only limited time to consider them and then must vote up or down – Congress has no power to change them. A few trade agreements, most notably NAFTA, were approved under previous Fast Tracks. But earlier Fast Track authority expired in 1994, and since then, Congress has twice refused to adopt such procedures again. This year’s Fast Track is worse than the ones Congress rejected in 1997 and 1998. The Fast Track which Bush seeks -- which he calls "Trade Promotion Authority" incorporates workers’ rights only as a voluntary goal, not a requirement. As the lessons of the last seven years teach, flawed trade policies cost American jobs, pull down U.S. wages and working conditions, erode governments’ ability to protect public health and the environment, and contribute to political and economic instability and growing inequality around the world. There are two proposals right now – one introduced by Representative Crane in the House (H.R. 2149) and the Graham-Murkowski Fast Track bill in the senate. Though the Senate legislation is billed as a compromise, it has no real provision for enforcement of workers’ rights and environmental protections. One agreement that would be subject to Fast Track is the Free Trade of the Americas Agreement (FTAA). The FTAA would extend the failed policies of NAFTA throughout most of the Western Hemisphere. The Administration is also involved in WTO negotiations to expand the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). NAFTA has cost US workers hundred of thousands of jobs; in Mexico, wages have actually fallen and poverty has increased; and the wages of Canadian workers have dropped below US standards. In Mexico, it has caused environmental degradation and contributed to a significant decline in public safety and health. NAFTA gives corporations the right to go before secret international tribunals to challenge laws (national, state or local) designed to protect consumers, workers or the environment and to demand compensation from national governments if those laws reduce their profits. The President does not need Fast Track to complete trade negotiations; he can negotiate new trade agreements without such authority.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
For more information: Indiana AFL-CIO (317) 632-9147 AFL-CIO Legislation Department (202) 637-5057