HUGE: FAST TRACK STALLED IN CONGRESS. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Jim Dea- Democracy for America
Moments ago, after months of pressure on Democrats in Congress and Leader Nancy Pelosi, the grassroots scored a significant victory in the war over the Trans-Pacific Partnership. From the first paragraph of the New York Times:
WASHINGTON — House Democrats rebuffed a dramatic personal appeal from President Obama on Friday, torpedoing his ambitious push to expand his trade negotiating power — and, quite likely, his chance to secure a legacy-defining trade accord spanning the Pacific Ocean.
Despite Fast Track passing on a 219-211 vote -- with 28 Democrats breaking ranks to vote with Republicans -- the fatally flawed "Trade Adjustment Assistance" bill went down in flames, 302-126. As we warned, Democrats finally realized that the TAA was a trap set by the GOP -- and they didn't fall for it. As a result, the entire trade package is now stalled on Capitol Hill, as Republicans, corporate Democrats, and Wall Street lobbyists scramble to save it.
DFA members like you made this stunning upset victory possible. Just in the last few days, DFA members have made more than 2,600 calls to Leader Pelosi and members of Congress urging them to vote NO on Fast Track and the Medicare-cutting Trade Adjustment Assistance bill that preceded it today. In total, more than 173,000 Democracy for America members made this moment possible, having taking action almost daily for nearly two years to defeat the job-killing TPP.
It worked. They listened to you. But it's not dead yet. Despite today's victory, Republicans and President Obama are going to keep trying to pass Fast Track and pass the TPP -- perhaps as early as next week. That's why we have to keep fighting.
At the beginning of 2015, few progressives knew much about the TPP. That's all changed. Thanks to your activism, the TPP has become a defining issue in American politics -- and DFA members have become one of the most influential groups on the issue.
Don't take my word for it. "The Hill," one of the leading news outlets covering Congress, called DFA "one of twelve groups to watch" in the fight over the TPP.
That recognition came because DFA members like you have been working hard to stop the TPP. Along with our partners at CREDO, MoveOn, and several other amazing organizations, more than 2 million progressive activists signed a petition that we delivered to the House urging them to stop the TPP.
Because of progressive champions like Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Sherrod Brown and Representatives Raul Grijalva, Keith Ellison, Donna Edwards, Mark Pocan, Rose DeLauro, and Alan Grayson, we dealt a huge blow against the Trans-Pacific Partnership today in the fight to save American jobs and protect our democracy from corporate power.
But, while today's vote is a tremendous victory for the army of grassroots activists from all across the progressive movement, we're under no illusion that this is the end of the fight.
We know the legions of corporate executives and industry lobbyists who are pushing the job-killing TPP won't stop after losing today and, they should know, neither will we. The hundreds of thousands of hardened, grassroots activists who have been brought together by this fight against this job-killing trade deal will not rest until the TPP is dead, buried, and covered in six inches of concrete.
Thank you for standing together with us today. Together, we're unstoppable.
- Jim
Jim Dean, Chair
Democracy for America