Environmental groups trashed changes to the House “fast-track” free trade bill Wednesday because they said it would undercut the United States’ ability to address climate change.
Green organizations highlighted language in legislation being considered in a package with the Trade Promotion Authority bill that ensures “trade agreements do not require changes to U.S. law or obligate the United States with respect to global warming or climate change.”
The groups pressured climate-friendly Democrats such as Reps. Jared Polis of Colorado and Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, who have publicly backed fast track as necessary for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, which President Obama is negotiating with Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim countries.
“New language forbidding U.S. negotiators from ever addressing climate change in a trade deal might win over a couple of votes on the far Right, but it’ll lose many more in the center and on the Left who take the threat of global warming seriously,” Karthik Ganapathy, a spokesman with 350.org, told the Washington Examiner. “It’ll be hard for legislators like Polis and Blumenauer, who understand the threat of global warming, to vote for something that condones so much climate destruction.”
Republicans added the climate language to the customs bill that will be part of a fast-track package that could come up for a vote as early as Friday, a move that’s designed to get some recalcitrant Republicans to back the Senate-passed trade promotion authority bill.
Republicans plan to advance the customs legislation separately to reconcile it in a conference committee with the already passed Senate version, which includes provisions toughening enforcement of trade rules and limiting currency manipulation. It would place new conditions on the trade deal if passed and signed into law.
Environmental groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters all sent letters to House members to oppose the bills, adding that they think the trade deal overall would weaken U.S. environmental standards. They, with Democratic fast-track opponents, said the customs bill was a Trojan horse on climate, immigration and other issues important to liberals.
“House Republicans are using the customs bill as a vehicle to further in [Trade Promotion Authority] their rigid ideological agenda,” said Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee.
Obama has courted GOP votes and battled the progressive wing of his party over his trade agenda. But he still needs Democrats to join Republicans, given that a number of Tea Party Republicans plan to vote against fast-track because they believe it cedes too much authority to Obama. Fast-track would allow Congress to approve free-trade deals by an up-or-down vote without amendments, and it is considered crucial for winning congressional approval for the Pacific pact.
“Trade votes are never an easy lift around here, but Republicans are continuing to work and we’re seeing some positive momentum in the right direction. But frankly, it’s time for both parties to get engaged in this to try to make sure it’s passed so that we can continue to expand our economy, expand incomes in our country,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
But environmental groups plan to use the late changes to nibble at the Democrats who have bucked the party to support fast track. They also pressured Obama on the Pacific deal, which has come under fire from opponents for what they say are opaque negotiations and weak environmental standards.
“The president should start by telling Republican leadership and the public that the provision in the customs amendment is unacceptable,” Friends of the Earth climate and energy campaigner Luísa Abbott Galvao said. “President Obama cannot credibly claim that trade deals will force other countries to raise their environmental standards if he allows the same deals to secure a pass for the U.S. to keep dumping carbon into the planet’s atmosphere.”
