Mike Levin: “the strategy of those of us opposing the present fast track proposal is not ``America last,'' but putting people first.…”

“the strategy of those of us opposing the present fast track proposal is not ``America last,'' but putting people first. This is not mainly about the power of interest groups, but the power of issues. In the last decade, more and more of U.S. trade has been with nations with low wages and tightly controlled labor and other markets, and with lax environmental conditions. Indeed, our imports from these nations like China, India, Brazil, Mexico rose by 25 percent in the last decade, and as an administration official said yesterday, 50 percent of all United States trade will be with these nations in the near future, increasingly changing from footwear to higher-tech ware. Instead of moving forward towards new rules of competition to meet new patterns of expanding trade, the present fast track proposal goes backwards, limiting the President's authority in important areas of labor markets and the environment. There were no such limitations on Presidents Carter, Reagan, or Bush. This fast-track proposal is wrong. Vote ``no'' and let us go back and do it right.”