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THE NEW NAFTA IS IN BIG TROUBLE
Twenty years ago this month, a massive trade agreement went into effect in North America after being rushed through Congress through an end-run around the democratic process. That trade deal was NAFTA, and because of it we have lost more than 700,000 jobs to Mexico in the last two decades.
Some mistakes should never be repeated. So this month, DFA launched a campaign to make sure that the new NAFTA -- the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- never makes it that far.
After the launch of our campaign, Progressive Caucus chair Rep. Keith Ellison joined us to ask DFA members to tell their representatives to refuse to grant "fast track trade authority" to the President -- an anti-democratic move which would deny Congress the right to debate or amend the TPP. More than 70,000 Americans have signed on and hundreds have made urgent calls to House members to demand a democratic, open debate over the TPP.
Momentum is turning against Fast Track and the TPP thanks to the voices of activists like you, but we can't back off now, because we know the corporate interests backing the TPP will keep fighting until the bitter end.
While we've been taking national action against the TPP, we've also been ramping up local pressure on individual congress members, including Rep. Ron Kind, a Democrat from Wisconsin who circulated a letter to his fellow House members telling them they should support Fast Track and TPP.
Not one Democrat has stood up to co-sponsor Fast Track -- a key indicator of whether or not the legislation will move forward -- and Rep. Kind's letter was a potential trial balloon. Here is what Kind's local newspaper, the La Crosse Tribune, reported about DFA's response:
The progressive group Democracy for America on Wednesday sent an email asking its members to bombard Kind with calls in hopes he will reconsider. "As a member of his district I'm frustrated with Ron Kind because I've been a supporter in the past," said Karli Wallace, an Eau Claire-based campaign organizer with DFA. "It's a little embarrassing to me that he seems to wants to position himself as the fig leaf of bipartisanship that can help this skate through Congress somehow."
We asked our Wisconsin members to give Kind an earful, and they sure did: by the end of the day, the voicemails of many of his district staff were completely full, and DFA members were calling every office connected to Kind -- even his campaign office -- to make sure he heard their thoughts on TPP.
In a fight like this, rapid response at this level is necessary to win. The supporters of the TPP are well-funded and relentless, and they will keep trying to pick off weak representatives until they get their way.
Thanks for fighting for FAIR trade,
- Jim
Jim Dean, Chair
Democracy for America