[Texgreen] Take Action: Bush Trying to Seduce Democrats With Fake Fast Track Trade "Fixes"

[margaret]

Global Trade Watch
Action Alert: February 26, 2007

Bush Attempting to Seduce Democrats With Fake Trade "Fixes": Take  
Action!

for the full-graphics version of this e-mail, please see:
http://action.citizen.org/content.jsp? 
content_KEY=2362&t=BlankTemplate.dwt

In Brief: President Bush trying to lure Democrats down a primrose path  
to more NAFTAs! Your voice is needed now to counter the  
administration's dangerous seduction effort. Speak out now:
http://action.citizen.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6795

Dear Fair Trade Supporter,

Now is the time. With your help, we can FINALLY put an end to the  
devastating era of Bush's NAFTA-uber-alles trade offensive.

You just elected a fair trade majority in Congress. But, the Bush  
administration, a few unreconstructed Clintonite NAFTA boosters, and  
their Big Corporate buddies are gearing up to revive Bush's disastrous  
trade agenda.

The Bush administration is in closed-door negotiations as we speak  
trying to seduce Democrats with this line: Democrats must act now to  
"save" poor nations from misery... by granting President Bush more  
"Fast Track" trade authority! Yup, they want the new Democratic  
majority to issue Bush blank-check authority to do more of the same  
trade policy. The corporate media omits that poor nations oppose Bush's  
trade plan because it will harm their interests and instead the media  
is repeating Bush's outlandish argument, and slamming Democrats. Plus,  
as a bonus, the Bushites are "offering" "side" (read: unenforceable,  
meaningless) deals on labor rights if Democrats support NAFTA expansion  
to Peru, Panama and Colombia...

This offensive offensive is now underway targeting the trade committees  
in Congress: the House Ways and Means committee and the Senate Finance  
committee. "If you play nice with us," they are saying, "we can make  
the nasty press attacks stop."

Please contact your Representative and Sentors today! Your voice right  
now is critical to counterbalance the special interest choir! Go here  
to take action:
http://action.citizen.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6795

What's at stake?

* NAFTA Expansion to Peru, Panama and Colombia: These trade pacts  
promise more outsourced U.S. jobs, increased drug-trafficking and  
violence, and destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Democrats have  
demanded these deals be re-negotiated to remove numerous offensive  
provisions. The Bush administration is having none of it and instead  
wants to slap on meaningless labor side agreements. We have to help  
remind the Democrats that now that they are the majority, we rely on  
them to put an end to these damaging NAFTA expansions once and for all.

* Fast Track: Fast Track is the un-democratic concoction of the Nixon  
administration that hands over Congress' constitutionally-mandated  
control of trade policy to the executive branch. Fast Track enabled  
disastrous trade deals like NAFTA, CAFTA and WTO. Fast Track even takes  
away control from Speaker Pelosi over what comes up for a vote on the  
House floor! The current Fast Track expires this June 30th, and Bush  
wants more of this blank check authority. Who would consider trusting  
Bush with any more authority? But, the Washington Post and Wall Street  
Journal are slamming Democrats and demanding they grant President Bush  
Fast Track authority - to expand the WTO!

The administration's seduction negotiations are coming to a head.  
Please weigh in on the debate right now! Tell your representative and  
senators that the Peru and Colombia deals need to be stopped - and Fast  
Track should be boxed and buried. Go here to take action:
http://action.citizen.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6795

Want to do more? Take it to the next level:

* Sign your group onto the national "No More Fast Track" sign-on  
letter. Send an email to David Edeli at dedeli@citizen.org to see a  
copy of the letter. Please include the name of your organization in the  
email.

* Tell Your Friends – Especially the ones whose congresspeople  
are on the bad guys' target list (see the list below). Forward this  
email to them, or use our "Tell-a-friend" system to give them the heads  
up.
http://action.citizen.org/tellafriend.jsp?tell_a_friend_KEY=1352

After all the hard work activists like you did to get a fair trade  
Congress elected, now is our opportunity to finally make some progress  
on fair trade. Let's roll!

Thank you for everything you do.

Yours in public citizenship,
The Global Trade Watch Team

-----

Bush's Strategy:
"Kick-and-Kiss"

* Kick: Bush and his corporate allies are ginning up a nasty attack  
against the Democrats in the corporate media - calling them  
protectionists and isolationists simply because Democrats are listening  
to the public and demanding new trade rules that will benefit all of  
us!

* Kiss? Then comes the seduction - offering the "solution" for ending  
the attack. All the Democratic majority has to do is sign off on the  
same old Bush trade policy repackaged with meaningless side agreements  
and a chunk of cash to "retrain" workers displaced by bad trade deals!

* The real rub: Side agreements aren't a real kiss. We saw what those  
unenforceable political fig leaves got us in NAFTA - a disaster!

And money to retrain us? For what? The damage of the Bush trade policy  
is not just specific jobs we lose. Race-to-the-bottom trade deals slam  
the whole middle class - squeezing down all of our wages. Even when  
jobs stay, these trade deals pit us against $1 day wages elsewhere.  
Plus, the jobs being shipped offshore now are high tech and  
professional jobs - the engineering, computer, and accounting service  
sector jobs we were told would replace the 3 million manufacturing jobs  
lost during NAFTA and WTO.

-----

Democratic Members of the Ways and Means Committee in the House of  
Representatives:

--Know someone who might live in their district? Send them an email!
http://action.citizen.org/tellafriend.jsp?tell_a_friend_KEY=1352
--Got any other ideas about how to get the message to these Democrats?
Email David Edeli at dedeli@citizen.org

Charles B. Rangel (New York-15): Represents Upper Manhattan  
neighborhoods like Harlem in New York City
Fortney Pete Stark (California-13): Represents the cities of Alameda,  
San Leandro, Hayward, Fremont, and more.
Sander M. Levin (Michigan-12): Represents 60% of Macomb county, from  
Clinton Township/Mt Clemens and Lake St. Clair to Southfield.
Jim McDermott (Washington-7): Represents Seattle, Vashon Island, and  
parts of Shoreline, Tukwila, SeaTac and Burien.
John Lewis (Georgia-5): Represents Atlanta, East Point, and parts of  
Clayton and Dekalb counties.
Richard E. Neal (Massachusetts-2): Represents most of Western and  
Central Massachusetts, from Connecticut River Valley to Blackstone  
River Valley.
Michael R. McNulty (New York-21): Represents the cities of Albany,  
Amsterdam, Cohoes, Gloversville, and more.
John S. Tanner (Tennessee-8): Represents the counties of Benton,  
Carroll, Dyer, Madison, Montgomery, Tipton, and more.
Xavier Becerra (California-31): Represents many neighborhoods of Los  
Angeles, such as Echo Park and Hollywood.
Lloyd Doggett (Texas-25): Represents Central Texas, including Travis,  
Bastrop, Caldwell and Fallete counties and more.
Earl Pomeroy (North Dakota-at large): Represents all of North Dakota.
Stephanie Tubbs Jones (Ohio-11): Represents Cleveland and surrounding  
area.
Mike Thompson (California-1): Represents Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino,  
Sonoma, Napa, Yolo, and Del Norte counties.
John B. Larson (Connecticut-1): Represents the city of Hartford and the  
towns of Berlin, Glastonbury, Colebrook, Windsor and more.
Rahm Emanuel (Illinois-5): Represents neighborhoods of Chicago such as  
Schiller Park, Franklin Park, River Grove, and Northlake.
Earl Blumenauer (Oregon-3): Represents most of Portland and Multnomah  
County, as well as Clackamas County.
Ron Kind (Wisconsin-3): Represents the counties of Buffalo, Clark,  
Dunn, Eau Claire, La Crosse, St. Croix, and more.
Bill Pascrell Jr. (New Jersey-8): Represents 21 cities and towns in  
southern Passaic and northern Essex counties.
Shelley Berkley (Nevada-1): Represents the city of Las Vegas.
Joseph Crowley (New York-7): Represents northern Queens and eastern  
portions of the Bronx.
Chris Van Hollen (Maryland-8): Represents most of Montgomery County  
including the cities of Bethesda, Rockville, and Potomac.
Kendrick Meek (Florida-17): Represents parts of Miami-Dade and Broward  
counties, including North Miami and Miramar.
Allyson Y. Schwartz (Pennsylvania-13): Represents parts of Montgomery  
and Philadelphia counties, including Glenside and Lansdale.
Artur Davis (Alabama-7): Represents Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Selma, and  
other parts of central and west Alabama.

Learn more about the Ways and Means Committee here:
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/

Democratic Members of the Senate Finance Committee:

--Know someone who lives in one of these states? Send them an email!
http://action.citizen.org/tellafriend.jsp?tell_a_friend_KEY=1352
--Got any other ideas about how to get the message to these Democrats?
Email David Edeli at ded...@citizen.org

Max Baucus, Montana
John D. Rockefeller IV, West Virginia
Kent Conrad, North Dakota
Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico
John Kerry, Massachusetts
Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas
Ron Wyden, Oregon
Charles Schumer, New York
Debbie Stabenow, Michigan
Maria Cantwell, Washington
Ken Salazar, Colorado

Learn more about the Senate Finance Committee here:
http://www.senate.gov/~finance/