Obama gets big win as Congress passes free-trade agreements | WaPo – Oct. 12, 2011 |
Congress resoundingly approved long-stalled trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama late today, authorizing the most significant expansion of trade relations in nearly two decades.
The House approved all three deals and was quickly followed by the Senate. Final approval of the agreements represents a victory for the Obama administration and congressional leaders in both parties, who have touted the trade pacts as a means to jump-start the flagging economy without additional government spending. Ratification of the agreements holds particular importance for President Obama, who has set a goal of doubling U.S. exports by 2015 and is facing a tough bid for reelection with unemployment stuck at 9.1 percent.
“I look forward to signing these agreements,” Obama said in a statement. He hailed passage as “a major win for American workers and businesses.”
“Tonight’s vote, with bipartisan support, will significantly boost exports that bear the proud label `Made in America,’ support tens of thousands of good-paying American jobs and protect labor rights, the environment and intellectual property,” Obama said.
A variety of U.S. industries are expected to benefit from the agreements. Producers of beef, dairy, pork and poultry products, chemicals, and plastics are all likely to increase exports to Korea. The banking and financial services industries could also be big winners, analysts said, benefiting from relaxed regulations and rules relating to foreign investment.
Bernie Sanders Was Right to Oppose the Panama Free Trade Agreement
[h/t Marie3 – Pity]
Sanders Op-Ed: What now? November 3, 2010
What about deficit reduction? Under President Bush the national debt almost doubled because of the war in Iraq, tax breaks for the rich, a Medicare Part D prescription drug bill written by the drug companies and the Wall Street bailout. None of these initiatives were paid for.
I voted against all of them.
Now, with a $13.7 trillion national debt, my Republican colleagues suddenly have become very concerned about the deficit. Their solution: major cuts in programs that benefit working families – including Social Security, education, health care and the environment. I disagree. We must move toward a balanced budget, but we should do it in a way that is fair.
It is absurd that large corporations and wealthy individuals are avoiding about $100 billion a year in taxes by stashing their money in tax havens in the Cayman Islands or Bermuda. It is wrong that in 2005 one quarter of all large corporations, earning a trillion in revenue, paid nothing in taxes. It is laughable that last year, while Exxon-Mobil, the most profitable corporation in history, made $19 billion in profits, they not only paid nothing in taxes – they got a $156 million refund from the IRS.
These are tough times for our country. Reintroducing the failed policies of the past will be a disaster for the American middle class. We need ideas and legislation which benefit all Americans, not just those with wealth, power and political influence.
Bernie Sanders: Offshore tax havens are nothing but legalized tax fraud and the fiscally responsible thing, and the just thing, to do is to eliminate them. [Date: April 5, 2016]