Political Quotes

“Yesterday, under enormous pressure from defrauded investors, the Republican leadership finally, reluctantly agreed to bring a strong accounting bill to the floor. But tonight, the Republican-dominated House is poised to turn around and give corporate America its most desired prize of all, trade promotion authority, or fast track. The fast track conference agreement is a great deal for huge corporations, but it is a bad deal for American workers. Republican leadership has given these corporations everything it wants in this Congress: insurance companies write legislation to privatize Medicare; energy companies write our energy policy; chemical companies write our environmental policy; Wall Street writes Social Security privatization legislation. Fast track, the granddaddy of them all, would prevent thousands of displaced workers from obtaining training, trade adjustment assistance, and health care coverage. It fails to make labor and environmental standards required negotiating objectives for future trade agreements. But it is worse than that. This TPA, this fast track, shifts power from democratic governments to corporations. It allows corporations to challenge laws, environmental laws, food safety laws, worker protection laws that were passed in this Congress, that were passed in the 50 State legislatures, regulations that protect workers and protect the environment.”