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Things look bad for Obamatrade fast track

It is early and the vote hasn’t yet happened, but it appears that the House is going to reject fast track trade authority for Obama.

I need to provide some clarification. This fast track authority is not an actual trade bill, but a procedure that has been used since FDR to make the negotiation process on trade bills easier for the president. For some reason Congress needs to now renew it for Obama.

That Congressmen from both parties are reluctant to renew this grant of presidential power indicates a shift of political power back to Congress. The argument, that this power has been routinely granted since FDR, is not carrying the weight it once did. Instead, there is movement to refuse the president this extra power, partly because there is distrust of Obama because of his abuses of power and executive authority and partly because the voters have elected a lot of new congressmen who in general just don’t like giving presidents more power.

Expect this shift to increase in the coming years. It appears to me that this battle over fast track might be a very positive sign for the future.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
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"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

6 comments

  • Cotour

    We heard similar things before, like “its going to be a close vote on Obamacare” and then it became law. Let the vote take place and let the president and those who would further empower him fail.

    Waiting, I am a good and patient waiter, its one of my super powers, but this can not come soon enough for me:

    http://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/toiso=20161108T07&p0=611&msg=Countdown+until+Obama+is+OUT+OF+OFFICE

  • PeterF

    I heard last night that it was defeated. But for some reason there will be a revote next week. Why do the socialists keep getting do-overs? Would there have been a revote if it had passed? The A-holes here in Massachusetts keep bringing bills back from the dead if they get defeated. Eventually the people who oppose them will be preoccupied or they can sneak them through in the middle of the night.

  • The fast track authority for Obama actually passed, but a companion part of the law failed badly. Since the Senate had passed both, the approved law needs to go back to conference so that both houses pass the same bill, or the House can vote again on the portion that was defeated. It appears the Republican leadership in the House wants to try the latter approach, since they think it is their only viable route to passage.

  • Keith

    It didn’t pass and it doesn’t have public support because people, now even including Democrats and Unions, do not trust Obama. They don’t trust what he says. They don’t trust what he does. They don’t trust him to do the right thing(s) for the country. They don’t trust him to even follow they laws they do pass and support.

    Keeping the TPP secret before the vote on TPA raises this level of distrust of the President. Approving the TPA is akin giving somebody a power tool. What we don’t know is if he’ll use it to help us, or use it against us.

    The TPA not passing yesterday is all on Obama. He earned this result.

  • D.K. Williams

    The House Republicans should use this opportunity to remove Boehner from leadership.

  • PeterF

    Who’s turn is next?

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