Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger blames a media campaign for creating problems for major trade legislation this week that the GOP supports.
Kinzinger told radio program WROK-AM on Wednesday that a website, ObamaTrade.com, and the news site Drudge Report were spreading misinformation about what the trade bills would do. This has helped to fuel opposition against the measure.
“If you look at Drudge, if you look at Obamatrade[.com], people are saying, you know, ‘Paul Ryan has said it’s in secret and you’ve got to pass it to find out what’s in it.’ Well that’s not true,” Kinzinger told the radio program on Wednesday, according to Politico.
He explained what Ryan was really discussing was a procedural matter, in which the Congress must first pass the trade promotion bill before the Pacific partnership legislation can be voted on.
Kinzinger added that “a lot of misinformation” exists online and elsewhere. “Nothing on what we voted on was a tax increase, or a secret deal, or an immigration issue. It is a very basic thing,” the congressman told the radio program.
The website ObamaTrade.com was started by Curtis Ellis, a self-described progressive that had worked for Democrats and supported trade unions, according to the Washington Free Beacon newspaper.
Ellis is also founder of the American Jobs Alliance, who once described himself as a progressive and worked for Democrats supported by unions, according to a Politico article.
Politico reported that Ellis also served as spokesman for “a non-partisan super PAC that helped primary challengers unseat incumbents” called the Campaign for Primary Accountability.
The trade legislation includes several different measures that include giving the president trade promotion authority to enter into trade deals with other countries. Another bill would authorize a massive trade deal between the Asia-Pacific region and the United States.
The bills passed the House on Thursday, but it still remains to be seen what will happen in the Senate, where Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada says he will oppose the legislation.
The bill is one of the only times where the GOP is supporting new authority for the Democrat president, while his own party opposes him.
