The House kills Obamatrade bill…for now
As you have all probably heard by now the House has killed what has been billed in some circles as the Obamatrade legislation, and at 302-126 the vote was not even close. The vote that doomed the fast-track legislation known as the TPA was actually a vote on the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program.
The TAA bill would have provided funds to help American workers who lose their jobs because of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. (TPP) The fact that the TAA legislation was needed is proof to me that despite what Barack Obama and other supporters of the TPP (are all these abbreviations getting confusing yet?) are claiming they know this will cost some Americans their jobs. If this is so why pass the TPP in the first place ? Wouldn’t the American people be better off with the jobs they already have rather than relying on the government to take care of them after the government screws them over?
Is this a sign that the House is standing up for American workers? Maybe, but then again maybe not for it is being reported that the House will take up this measure again on Tuesday and I think there is an ulterior motive here. This bill is not dead yet and I believe it is about to get more expensive.
With the added time we can expect more arm-twisting by House leaders and what is the best way to convince somebody to vote for a piece of legislation he or she might not otherwise support? Throw a little something their way, that’s how.
And if Nancy Pelosi’s words can be used as an example of this that is precisely what is going to happen. See, Nancy Pelosi basically stated that if the pot was sweetened she could get on board with the TAA, TPA, and TPP. Here is what she said:
“The prospects for passage of” the trade bill, she wrote in a letter to fellow Democrats, “will greatly increase with the passage of a robust highway bill.”
It sure looks like she has her hand out to me and I would bet most of the other no votes do as well. In the end this is going to pass in my opinion once the bribes are handed out.
Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
America's Watchtower 
This the problem with bad legislation… you have to work to defeat it over and over and over but it only needs to be passed once to become law.
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And they never seem to stop until it passes…
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Never mind the fast track, stop that damned pack with the devil.
Leslie
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Amen to that!
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Reblogged this on Brittius.
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Thank you.
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You’re welcome.
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Here’s the thing. If our representatives were obeying the wishes of their constituents and said, ‘We are voting no because this is an unconstitutional and sovereignty surrendering bill. We will always vote no on this bill,’ there wouldn’t be a need to re-vote.
This is how our Congress is supposed to work. Our representatives take their orders from their constituents; they consistently vote the same way. The representatives don’t change their votes because they were bribed by donations or blackmailed.
Oops, forget in what world I live… 😉
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One of my biggest pet peeves is when a separate bill is added to a bill as an amendment to get both bills to pass which would otherwise fail on their own. All bills should come to the floor on their own for an up or down vote. I don’t have a problem with legitimate amendments being added to bills but this is being abused big time!
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Agree, Steve. To paraphrase a Founding Father…amendments are to correct defects in the [bill] itself. To change something that is wrong, something that wasn’t seen the first time around.
All bills should be stand-alone bills. Too many times Congress has passed a stinker because it was attached to something good. Or, they were really sneaky and buried something they didn’t want the public to know about up front.
Darn….our Congress is a bunch of criminals.
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I could not agree more!
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Doesn’t Nancy want a “highway” bill added to this in order to get HER vote? Is that what the hang-up is? I am sure there are others that will allow a YES vote for a price to pay….is there anyone in Congress anymore that will vote for what their constituents want and not what we can get for them? Really? If this is the case there is something seriously wrong with the people we have put into office. What if all of us bargained with whomever was a candidate and told them we wanted, x,y and z before they would get our vote? I doubt that would work out smoothly. I am sick of all this crap. Vote, dammit and do it the way WE want it!
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They don’t vote the way we want because they don’t need us to get elected. They don’t need their constituents to get on the ballot or for donations. Once they are in office they can’t be recalled (thanks to an unconstitutional ruling by SCOTUS), they are not accountable to us because they have political parties, corporations, unions, businesses, special interests, and the uber rich.
There are solutions to this.
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Yes Lou, Pelosi has basically said her vote can be bought with a highway bill and we know the others are also going to be holding their hands out looking for something in return for their votes. This is going to pass, it is only a matter of time and money.
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Sadly Laura you are right, we really do only play a small role in this game and the people are manipulated into voting for the candidates the establishment wants to see in there.
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If Obama wants it – that’s enough for me to tell Congress to vote NO! Heaven help the House if they give Obama this and it turns out to harm Americans/American jobs. What happened to posting the bills 90 days in advance of a vote so we can see what’s in the bill before its passes unlike Obamacare!
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So many broken promises and the Republicans wonder why conservatives stay home when they nominate people like McCain and Romney?
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Steve, I think this is going to be a circus with all the candidates running on the Republican side. The Democrats are going to sit back with their popcorn and watch the Republicans ruin each other. I have never seen anything like it, you would think the Republicans would see how dire our situation is and not do this, but I have a feeling it will be back stabbing time. I hate to say it, but with all of Hillary’s baggage, I think she will be our next President if the Republicans play the same games they have been playing. What happened to the grown-ups?
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Yeah Lou, the problem with this large field is that they are going to focus on bringing each other down and whomever emerges from the back is going to have been beaten up pretty badly. The best we can hope for is for Warren and Sanders to beat up Hillary as well.
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I don’t stay home, I figure its better to vote in a republican than let a democrat get elected. This presidential election – I’m voting for Scott Walker, I said it back it January and haven’t seen a reason to change my mind.
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Hahaha, Barbara, that was funny! Of course they will not post it and of course we will not know what is in it. There is so much “pork” in most of their bills, I am surprised that they even resembles the original bill. Lest we forget, they also leave open areas to be “filled in” at a later date. We give them a blank check when it comes to what a bill contains. I guess we went wrong by trusting them to do the right thing. That is not ever going to happen again, I am afraid.
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Now Ted Cruz is denying this is a “living document” but everything I have read makes it sound as though Obama can amend it any time he wants to–that sounds like a “living document” to me…
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I don’t believe a word Cruz says. I Read these articles today, didn’t watch the video.
http://therightscoop.com/ted-cruz-jeff-sessions-is-wrong-about-obamatrade-deal-full-audio/
http://therightscoop.com/ted-cruz-no-tpp-is-not-a-living-agreement/
I don’t trust Cruz, something about him is off.
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I saw those articles as well and I don’t believe him either. Cruz supports amnesty and it is being reported amnesty is included in this bill so it makes me wonder if that is why he is supporting it.
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