Yves here. This post is important in and of itself, and also serves as an opportunity for a reminder: Please keep up your calls to your Senators and Congressman against the Fast Track. As we’ve said:
So your calls are critical to stiffening the spine of the rebels and letting the traitors know that voters will take their vengeance for a sellout in the next election. As reader Kokuanani pointed out:
As I’ve posted elsewhere with regard to contacting your Senators and Rep., NUMBERS COUNT. The staff members reading e-mails and answering the phones are only reporting the volume of incoming communication and which “side” it supports. Your fabulous essay on the evils of the TPP and Fast Track will never reach the voting member. So don’t waste your time writing it.
Pick one or two arguments [e.g., “secrecy”] and make them. Briefly. Like a sentence or two. Spend the rest of your time getting friends and family to contact Senate offices. The e-mail forms [links provided by Yves] make this ridiculously easy. All you need is a zip code showing you’re in the state. You can walk your pals through the process.
I don’t know how effective contacting the DNC would be, but it can’t hurt, and can alert them that they can’t rely on you for fund-raising or votes.
Needless to say, if you are in Pelosi’s district, it’s even more urgent for you to call and let her staff know you know what she is up to and you don’t approve at all.
So please keep the pressure on next week, and get the word to friends, family, and other allies. Here are the Senate contact details and those for your Representative.
By Gaius Publius, a professional writer living on the West Coast of the United States and frequent contributor to DownWithTyranny, digby, Truthout, Americablog, and Naked Capitalism. Follow him on Twitter @Gaius_Publius, Tumblr and Facebook. This piece first appeared at Down With Tyranny. GP article archive here.
It looks like this early statement, about which I got some pushback, is proving true. Just as Chuck Schumer was the behind-the-scenes enabler on Fast Track and TPP in the Senate — he voted No but privately organized the Fast Track set of bills so they would pass — Pelosi is the behind-the-scenes enabler of TPP in the House. According to one report (see below), she might even vote No, so long as it passes with votes other than hers.
Publicly, Pelosi has said both (a) she’s neutral and (b) she’s seeking a “path to yes.” Sounds like a contradiction, and it sounded so at the time. About her supposed neutrality, here’s the New York Times (my emphasis throughout):
Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the minority leader, who has yet to declare her position, has told House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio that he will have to produce 200 Republican votes to win the 217 he needs. In other words, she is not promising a single new convert.
That’s the spin, and it’s being repeated elsewhere as well. It’s also not true. According to two sources, in private Pelosi is working “almost on a daily basis” to get Fast Track to pass, and with it, TPP. Evidence comes from Greg Sargent at Plumline and from Politico. Let’s start with Sargent and the problems around Fast Track’s associated Trade Assistance bill.
If the Trade Assistance Bill Fails, Fast Track and TPP Will Fail
Everyone knows, though only opponents will say, that it’s mostly Big Money who wants TPP to succeed, because Big Money will make a killing from the deal. Everyone knows, though only opponents will say, that TPP will do what NAFTA did — move jobs abroad and continue to impoverish American workers.
Which means, to get Democratic votes for Fast Track and TPP, they need to enact a so-called Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) bill along with it, to lessen, if only slightly, the damage to American workers. Republicans hate lessening damage to American workers, however — remember all those unemployment compensation fights — so there are a lot of Republicans who don’t want TAA to pass.
And the TAA bill passed by the Senate is “paid for” by cuts to Medicare. (Yes, you read that right — Medicare cuts.) So right now, TAA is in trouble from both the left and the right. Bottom line, no TAA, no TPP. Enter Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi Is Working to Keep the TAA–plus–Fast Track Deal Alive
Many Democrats hate the Medicare cuts (or can’t afford to seem not to). Many Republicans hate the TAA itself. So the deal is in trouble — remember, no TAA, no TPP. What does Nancy Pelosi do? When it looks like the deal could fail, she goes to bat for the deal.
Pelosi is taking the possibility of a failed TAA vote in the House seriously. A Pelosi aide tells me that she is negotiating with GOP leaders to find a new pay-for to replace the Medicare cuts, since keeping them could end up killing it.
If Pelosi is opposed to Fast Track, she could let it die by letting TAA die. That’s what Alan Grayson would do. After all, if there’s no fast track for a job-killing “trade” bill, there’s no need for worker assistance to mitigate the damage. Pelosi is working to enable the Fast Track and TPP deal, to keep it alive. She obviously wants it to pass.
Nancy Pelosi — The White House “Secret Weapon” on TPP
Now from Politico, this gut-churner on Obama, Pelosi and TPP. It opens with the bottom line:
White House’s secret weapon on trade: Nancy Pelosi
Administration officials have been so impressed by Nancy Pelosi’s approach to negotiations over giving President Barack Obama “fast-track” trade authority that they’ve started to consider a crazy possibility: She could even vote for it herself.
But only if she has to.
“But only if she has to”? If she’s in favor of TPP why should she hide her hand in passing it? Feel free to make your best guess at the answer. Mine is, for the sake of appearances. For more on Pelosi controlling appearances, see the last quote in this piece.
The next few paragraphs are very Pelosi-friendly, but hard to credit once you get to these passages:
Obama aides say they don’t know how Pelosi will vote in the end, but they gush about how hands-on she’s been, how accommodating she’s been in letting them make their case, how critical she’s been in saying nothing about her position to give her fellow Democrats cover to get to yes.
“I applaud the leader for creating enough space to really evaluate this legislation,” said Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), who announced his support for TPA last month and has become the anti-TPA effort’s top target to scare others into voting no. “She’s done a good job creating that space.”
That’s “New Democrat” Ami Bera, who’s being hit hard in his district for his declared Yes on TPP. Ami Bera wants to publicly “applaud” Pelosi for her work with Democrats, to “create that space” so Democrats can “get to yes.”
The White House agrees:
The White House hopes Pelosi’s going to put her thumb on the backs of however many necks she needs, forcing yes votes among the more reluctant but safe members, letting the more endangered members off the hook, finding votes and trading votes until she gets to the 24, or 25, or 26 that she needs. …
“Her position is that she wants to get to yes and she is talking about this almost on a daily basis,” said a senior House Democrat.
Ignore the schizophrenia in the article about how she doesn’t know how she’s going to vote despite everything else it says about her effort. All she cares about, based on her reported behavior, is controlling her own appearance, her brand, as being “pro-worker” — and helping other pro-TPP members control their own appearances, as the above quote makes abundantly clear.
And ignore articles to the contrary; they just report what Pelosi is saying about herself. Sargent and this Politico piece report what Pelosi is doing — working hard to make TPP happen. She’s the lead enabler in the House of the “next NAFTA” trade agreement, someone working almost daily to keep the deal alive in the House.
If she doesn’t want to tag herself that way — and apparently she doesn’t — it falls to us to tag her. Nancy Pelosi, lead House perp on the biggest anti-worker bill of this generation. Considering the damage TPP will do, I’d gladly pay to put that on her tombstone.
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Please remember that politicians trade their votes to placate their constituents. Pelosi will consequently trade her yes vote for a no vote to keep her San Francisco constituents happy.
Yeah? That would depend on whom she really considered to be her ‘constituency,’ wouldn’t it.
Bingo! Thanks, Ambrit. Just as it with our corporatist and bankster-supporting congresswomen and men a little further north.
Their silence speaks volumes.
do you mean Oregon? All their positions are known – Wyden is for (Merkley not), all the Reps. but DeFazio are, too.
WA.
It does seem an argument against the political system can ever be reformed, at least with the duopoly. Who can keep track of all the shenanigans of our politicans. Here is merely one of them. As if the way they voted on at least some issues wasn’t usually enough disqualification for voting for the vast majority of them, then there’s all the voting one way pushing another.
Note my handle. I like your optimism. No offense intended but believe it’s misplaced. Extremely doubtful that Pelosi will change her vote.
Aw shucks, I was hoping your handle was a reference to this book by Karel Čapek!
You’re quite right that Pelosi won’t change her vote, but at least the people who call her office can have the satisfaction of making her office drones feel uncomfortable. Maybe a few of them will come to realize that they are working for the wrong team.
Aren’t Pelosi’s voter base members all Yuppie-Upward Latte Liberals who also support TPP ;in any case?
Glenn Greenwald adroitly called this Villain Rotation. When a vote gets close, and Big Money (or Big Military) may actually lose, a handful of Democrats “announce that they will be the ones to deviate this time from the ostensible party position”.
To protect the brand and image of the party, Democrats rotate who helps the right-wing on close votes. Jeremy Scahill reported that anti-war Democrats, who pledged to never support war funding, switched their votes once a war funding bill was in jeopardy.
To paint a useful picture of the Democratic Party, it is helpful to see how history repeats itself.
All of this is yet more reason that we desperately need a more accountable political system. Specifically, I want to see a party where the representative is selected by sortition from among the members of the party and is contractually obligated to vote in line with the wishes of their party membership, as expressed through on-line voting platforms (like this one: http://www.loomio.org).
We need to get away from this politics of personality and hero-worship/denigration. We need some REAL democracy, which means we need a democratically run party…and it ain’t gonna be the “Democrats.”
The farthest along in this sort of experiment that anyone has gotten (so far as I know) are the local Podemos-affiliated parties in Spain, and particularly in Barcelona:
http://www.geo.coop/story/commons-based-coalition-wins-big-barcelona-election
Not saying this is necessarily impossible in the US but… We tried it here in Madison with the original New Party twenty years ago and it worked for awhile. But eventually, esp after the New Party died and we were just a local 3rd party, even simpatico local electeds and candidates weren’t willing to sign on. They claimed it was killing them because any opponent would immediately latch onto the fact that they weren’t able to “make up their own mind” on the issues. This was in local, nonpartisan elections where, on the one hand, we actually had a chance to win seats but, on the other, there was no real national movement we were part of.
We’re going against 200 years of a posture of helplessness, thanks to the Prussian educational model and the Founding Oligarchs inoculating paternalism into the cultural DNA (Federalist #10).
The D vs. R fight really seems to be boiling down to whether we need public lords or private lords. I don’t need a lord — why would I vote for one?
Not sure what you mean by paternalism in Federalist #10. What I see as the nut graph:
How is that paternalist?
“Either the existence of the same passion or interest in a majority at the same time must be prevented, or the majority, having such coexistent passion or interest, must be rendered, by their number and local situation, unable to concert and carry into effect schemes of oppression.”
Where, as I understand was typical of their ilk, the only “oppression” that concerned them was of the ruling class (landed gentry) and their relative status as aristocrats.
I misremembered the quote from that Telesur link recently posted… it was in fact minister Jeremy Belknap who wrote, presumably no dissident from the sensibilities of the times, “Let it stand as a principle[…] that government originates from the people, but let the people be taught…that they are unable to govern themselves.” Nothing like a minister to invent perpetual debts out of thin air…
And F10, while not agreeing in so many words, seems to have that ideal foremost in mind as it presents a system that aims to reproduce it.
she’s scum
Yes, she is. As is republicrat Bera.
Didn’t Nancy get Stenny Ho’s memo?
Hoyer respects money and the people who the most of it.
But Pelosi’s cynical two-faces act with the TPP is a surprise to me.
And Obama and the Republicans only need 17 Dems or so.
~
Seriously? Sounds like your typical high-powered politician nonsense to me. I only dipped my toes into State and National politics for a few years, but I immediately found out that this sort of thing is more the rule than the exception–which is why I bailed on politics and went to work driving bus: dealing with so many a-holes (from both sides of the aisle) was just too grating and depressing to handle.
Well, Pelosi may be for TPP and for making Social Security a less lucrative handout, but she is our best hope for passing Gay Mormon Marriage.
Won’t someone please think of the Vietnamese children making lead-painted same-sex cake toppers!
“Have respect” means don’t point out my obvious lies and hypocrisy.
As many members of Congress are now implicitly acknowledging by refusing to answer the question, I don’t think the majority of those of either legacy political party who voted to “fast track” the secret TPP agreement have even read this very lengthy document. Although the Obama administration with its security classification and reading time limitations has made it very difficult for them to do so, and members of their staff have not been allowed to read it and provide input to members of Congress, this aspect alone should be cause for dismissing the legislation immediately and giving it no further consideration. This level of secrecy about what is being portrayed by its corporate and large bank supporters as a “trade agreement”, but is clearly a massive transfer of sovereign powers to large transnational corporations and banks, is unacceptable in a representative democracy.
The one exception among Congressmembers is….(wait for it): Jeff Sessions, R of Alabama. Who is now opposed and explaining why, in detail, to his fellows – and therefore ultimately to us.
In other words, the only member of Congress with any guts is a Republican!
And once again: all that BS about what Congresspeople are “allowed” to do or say is just that. They have complete Constitutional immunity for anything they say on the floor, and cannot be arrested while Congress is in session. So it’s all kayfabe – they’re actively colluding with the secrecy. They could blow it open any time they care to, without being thrown into a military prison or exiled to Moscow. And yes, that includes the sainted, but essentially gutless, Bernie. As well as my own Senator Wyden.
The reported threats from the Trade Rep. to “have them arrested” if they talk about what’s in it are a constitutional crisis all by themselves. He should have been instantly fired for that – or at the least, his salary cut off by Congress. But we know about that stuff.
My very own Sen. Jeff Sessions has me gobsmacked. Of all the congresscritters who might be against TPP, he is one of the last I would have expected. And, he seems to be making cogent arguments against it. Some of his statements almost sound ……… progressive.
OTOH, the state of Alabama has a large number of foreign manufacturers, the latest addition being an Airbus airliner assembly plant here in Mobile that is about to start production. I suspect that might have something to do with Sessions position.
Mostly, I’m just really glad to see him in opposition as he has some seniority and influence.
Typical behavior for “Inside Trader” Nancy.
Anyone who still thinks the Dim-o-craps are the “good guys” should consider that there never was a serious challenge to replace either Pelosi (or Reid) after last year’s mid-term election debacle (following the one in 2010). The leadership is corrupt, cyclical and completely entrenched due to the Mafia-style organization it has – plum positions go to the biggest fund raisers.
How many betrayals will it take for the lesser-evilists to realize that the horse has already left the barn?
cynical – not cyclical
What everyone else here said. And don’t forget how she pushed through TARP way back when. Antiwar libertarian Justin Raimondo loves to bait Pelosi and even once ran against her in San Francisco. An example:
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2013/09/03/empress-pelosis-new-clothes/
Meanwhile Dean Baker explains the reasons why any Democrat who helps along fast track is a tool.
http://firedoglake.com/2015/06/04/the-tpp-gang-that-cant-shoot-straight/
Let’s see… Pelosi, a multimillionaire family with a long history in this sort of politics has been a, if not THE Demo leader through how many wars and how much astronomical defense spending, how much increased economic disparity, financial industry looting via what should only be called systemic criminality, other trade/job killing industry vanishing acts, health industry profiteering, draconian mass surveillance, torture, secrecy, and on and on? For decades running. And she has both achieved and maintained positions of power as a Progressive ta boot.
Think! Stop making excuses.
I would have said that leaders lead by example, but life and military service disabused me of my naivete long ago. Politicians and political parties are brands, and Pelosi is working on hers and that of the “Democratic” party’s brand. Brand, of course, having more to do with public perception managed by marketing than with reality.
Glenn Greenwald’s take is an entirely accurate one and I have incorporated it into my calls.
The point that I have made repeatedly when calling both my rep (a D) and other “leaders” like Pelosi and the White House is that this will not just affect my vote. This will affect whether or not I support the party or ANY Democrat in the future. As I see it if they care about keeping “the party” ok collectively then I should be clear that the collective will pay the price for this.
I realize of course that this stance will harm people like Alan Grayson and Elizabeth Warren but at the end of the day I cannot back an organization that publicly claims to have my back and then privately stabs it.
Instead of dropping the Democratic Party drop all the Senators and Representatives who either voted for TAP, TAA, TPP, TISA, TTIP … or actively supported them — eg. Representative Pelosi and Senator Charles Schumer.
AND DO VOTE! You can vote for something or someone to make sure your ballot is counted and leave blank office for which no suitable candidates have been offered. An undercount is almost the same as a “no” vote.
The problem with that is this . . . that if we vote for Good Guy officeholders against TPP and then the DParty leaders co-conspire with the RParty leaders to give just enough Dvotes to add to the Rvotes to get Fast Track and TAA and TPP passed, then it is passed. And the “no” votes from the designated good-guy DParty officeholders will have done zero actual good.
That is why continuing to vote for “did the right thing” no-voters on TPP is not good enough. If TPP is allowed to pass at all, then the DParty overall has been a co-conspirator with the RParty in getting it passed. And that is why the DParty would then have to be exterminated from existence so as to clear a space for the fabrication of a genuine actual party which could be an instrument of our will against the Free Trade BiParty.
And we would need to explain to our DParty call-takers and message readers aHEAD of time that we understand all about the rotating villains and heroes act, and we will no longer fall for it. And explain ahead of time that if any part of Free Trade passes, that we will never vote for National level DParty officeseekerss ever again. Not even the good ones like Marcy Kaptur or Alan Grayson.
Yes, I really like Alan Grayson and Elizabeth Warren even though she raises money with Cory Booker. But I’ve concluded that backing them and the party they build means making space for people like Pelosi to sell us out and I refuse to play that game.
well, for the demoncrats, it’s easy to throw in a few agent leftituers. ¡ka-ching! they keep their district and the party might even still get 1.3% of their fun-¡ding! from the AFL-SMTA. sure, there’s gotta be one or two brave souls who squeak through, but, alas, not much really, no matter how loud they squeak.
to stop the trancepacific ownership assignment, the focus must be upon the republican’ts. for it is they, in the shells of tinytown askansas and wemadestuff northeast carolina, that hold the key. there are just too many fans of patriot music (the rotting remains of country music, infusted with budwizer, heroes and dodge rams) willing to do their patridiotic duty and vote to negate any meaningful force on the leftover.
therefore, it is imperative that jesus himself (pbuh) convince the voting public in the name of all that is holy to stomp their feet in the red dirt of georgia and thrust the lance of virtue into the soulless hollows lying in the heartless hollows of these, to use a forlorn phrase, trade pacts.
to quote:
poor piggies.
This may have been pointed out elsewhere, that is, we should paint a picture to our own representatives that giving into the Fast Track and the TPP the citizens they represent can suffer the same fate as Greece.
Greece gave up part of its sovereignty when it adopted the Euro and the integration into the European Union. When the adoption failed and Greeks sought a political solution -albeit a contradictory position of default+membership- thinking that they could regain some of that sovereignty. The ministers of the EU have assumed the sovereignty, have no intention giving it back and are acting as shabbily as they must to retain the respect of their fellow ministers and to the detriment of the Greeks.
Giving the Executive branch the Fast Track, even for six years, will only embolden whichever president assumes office to push forward US hegemony. It will be done under the rubric ‘national security’ to give cover to the congress for the necessary budget allocation. Deficit spending for guard labor is most always approved by the right and the center. Look only to the growth of the NSA to see the depravity of the executive once it assumes control. Like a brain, once the network connections have been made and reinforced the money and influence are not easily pruned.
Ditto for the ISDS, if it makes it into the final TPP.
Anything is worth a try, one supposes. My personal feeling is that the already-pro-TPP officeholders deliberately want to turn America into a de-sovereignized Greece on the way to turning America into a privatised Yeltsin’s-Russia style looting opportunity and then One Big Haiti after that.
“Brain damage is what we had in mind all along. Any chromosome damage is just gravy”.
— old Sixties saying.
Fiscal failure indeed. Instead of doing the hard work to pass job-creating projects for long term sustainability, our dear Quisling Congress puts all its effort into the TPP. Creating jobs in Asia. Pelosi shamelessly tries to obfuscate what she is doing. She doesn’t fool anybody. Nor did Schumer. Trade Adjustment Assistance is such nonsense. It should be named Austerity Adjustment Assistance – paid for by trimming some entitlement of your choice. This behavior has been consistent since the 90s when labor was absolutely crushed. So there is a long term plan here that doesn’t care if we know it or not. Doesn’t this mean that a strong majority of our government elected representatives are colluding toward the same goal? How can representative democracy be so single minded? They are all headed full-tilt in the race to the bottom.
I really like that, Susan. Thanks!
GP
I am still amazed at the tenacity of these schemes to get the republic’s bills paid by people who have no money. Once I likened it to eating free in restaurants by inviting homeless people to dinner, then skipping out before the bill came.
In the case of Trade Adjustment Assistance, it’s getting the sick people to pay for the unemployed.
Amazing.
Here is a stupid idea, what if we started demanding impeachment?
What if we stopped delivering the respect upon which they clearly depend (see Steny Hoyer, above)? That pompous gasbags behind podia don’t really matter to us anymore? What if we rejected state paternalism (as baked into the Constitution) and grew up?
Fast track authority exposes ANY law passed by congress on an unlimited range of issues to the possibility of challenge by so-called trading partners, foreign or international corporations, even hostile foreign government entities through international tribunals, not U.S. courts. Example; country of origin labeling (COOL) of beef was overruled by the almighty WTO. Perhaps our congressional so-called leadership should give a thought to this kind of threat to their power.
I’ve called Pelosi’s office (she’s my rep) on two separate occasions expressing my strong opposition to TPP. On both occasions, the person answering the phone sent me into voice mail. I’ve e-mailed her requesting a response, but so far I’ve received nothing. Pelosi’s constituency in SF consists of the wealthy, well-connected Dem neoliberals, so I have no doubt she’s whipping for the TPP. She’s nothing but a scumbag.
Hmm. . . your comment confirms what I suspected up above about the Latte Liberals of Pelosi’s district.
She feels safe in her support of TPP because her VOters themSELVES support TPP. Its the kind of people they are.
Pelosi AND her voters need to be eating way more tuna then what they are eating now. Its good for their health. Also, they need to be eating all the Fukusushi and Fukusashimi they can afford on their Yuppie budgets. They’ve earned it and they deserve it for all they do.
Apparently Pelosi LIKES being in the minority.
I hope all the commenters here also made calls. I did. And sent this piece to people very active in the Dem party here in CA.
If you call Pelosi’s office be prepared to say “I oppose her whipping for TPP” as fast as you can before they switch you to VM. :)
Called Pelosi’s SF office on my lunchbreak–didn’t get switched to voicemail.
To echo eveybody else, Nancy ‘impeachment is off the table’ Pelosi is part of the problem. Just like calls on bank bailouts and healthcare a few years ago, and the ongoing authoritarian police state, I think interaction with the political leadership on fast track will mark a noteworthy point where distrust – and disgust – amongst educated liberals grows wider and more mainstream.
I do think the needle is moving in our culture. For example, I bet nobody will complain or smear anybody over the catfood picture being unfair to Obama, Pelosi, or the Democrats. That’s the kind of thing that would have sparked tremendous personal attacks and distraction from the core issue a few years ago. The fact it’s no longer noteworthy is rather interesting.
I’m reminded of this hilarity.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/06/nancy-pelosi-approved-mass-surveillance.html
I live in Michigan, which is a long way from California or Maryland. But there are people who live in California and Maryland. Wouldn’t it be nice if some of them asked themselves: ” what would Alinsky do?”
How can Pelosi and Steny Ho be embarrassed and humiliated by screaming hate-filled activists wherever they go . . . restaurants, bars, spas, vacations, etc? And in Washington too, when they are there?
And doesn’t Mr. Pelosi own a chain of restaurants in California? Can’t they be picketed and boycotted and etc.?
Say NO to TPP, Boycott Piatti Restaurants!
Thanks, Yves, for the repeat of my suggestion.
I’d just note that the original was written when legislation was before the Senate. Now readers should direct their communications to House members.
Don’t forget the “district office” in your list of places/ways to contact. NC has provided a handy list of addresses to write or e-mail the member in Washington, but if you look in the phone book, [under “US Government”], you should be able to find your member’s local office. Perhaps they’re lonely for constituent contact; why not drop by & see.
Bill Moyers had an excellent column at Huffington Post a couple of days ago outlining the myriad of horrors of the TPP. You could enclose/leave a copy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-moyers/turn-left-on-main-street_b_7504828.html
The subject of Moyers’ column, John Delaney [D-MD], is MY Congressperson. Needless to say,he got a note from me, and my husband + two adult kids.
Again, your goal is not to “convince” the Member or his/her staff re how terrible TPP is. It’s to let them know that YOU know how horrid it is, that you’ll be watching their vote, and that you’re telling all your family, friends and neighbors about this, and they’ll be watching too. Congress-folks fear the awareness and activity of their constituents.
The bill is going back to the Senate to be fixed in reconciliation (or a separate bill will be passed) since it has a provision re slavery which is too much for Malaysia. So calls to the Senate are still helpful, if not as critical as ones to the House.
Called my Boxer and Feinstein, and expressed virulently to vote NO to Fast Track this round, thanking Boxer for her earlier two nay votes, and expressing to Feinstein that now that the anti-slavery provision is to be removed, she should again vote NO to fast track.
This better not be a slow train wreck, cause a lot of heads gonna roll.