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Backers of Sanders Mobilize to Overthrow DNC Platform's Pro-TPP Stance
'Opposition to the job-killing TPP should not be controversial within the Democratic Party,' declares progressive advocacy group. So why is it?
Jun 30, 2016
Before the Democratic Party's platform is finalized at a meeting late next week, Bernie Sanders and his progressive allies are mobilizing to ensure that opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)—described by its critics as a global corporate power grab—becomes the party's official stance.
Though President Obama continues to lobby hard on behalf of the controversial deal, and despite a proposal to include such language being voted down during a drafting session last weekend in St. Louis, Sanders and his supporters are making their case into a rallying cry about the future of the Democratic Party.
On Wednesday, the Sanders campaign and Democracy for America, a progressive advocacy group, launched petitions calling on the platform committee to include the anti-TPP language in the final version.
"The Democratic Platform includes a number of very important initiatives that we have been fighting to achieve during this campaign," reads the petition from the Sanders campaign. "But one big item is missing: preventing the disastrous Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal from ever coming up for a vote in Congress."
In addition to citing Sanders' and Clinton's publicly stated opposition to the TPP, the Sanders petition points out that key Democratic voting blocs—including "virtually every labor union, environmental group, and even major religious groups"—also oppose it. The petition argues that the party should now "go on record in opposition to holding a vote on the TPP during the lame duck session of Congress and beyond."
According to DFA's petition, "opposition to the job-killing TPP should not be controversial within the Democratic Party: Both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton campaigned against the TPP during this year's presidential primary."
Though many have questioned Clinton's resolute opposition to the TPP, others are willing to take her at her word and argue that Obama and other pro-TPP forces within the Democratic Party undermined her campaign by not following through. Either way, outside progressive forces have remained vigilant against the corporate-friendly agreement even as Obama argues for it.
Meanwhile, in an op-ed in the New York Times this week, Sanders warned the Democratic leadership they needed to "wake up" when it comes to recognizing just how frustrated working people and the poor are when it comes to an economic system that is so clearly rigged against them.
While the 15-member committee voted down the measure in St. Louis by a 10-5 vote--with the five Sanders-appointed members voting in favor and all the Clinton- and DNC-appointed members voting against--the split offers a window into how Sanders and the millions of voters inspired by his campaign hope to influence the party in the weeks and months ahead. In turn, the battle over TPP and similar fights related to the minimum wage, climate action, and universal healthcare will reveal much about how the party establishment, currently transitioning its leadership from Obama to Clinton, will respond to the groundswells from below.
As the Washington Post reports Thursday, members of the platform panel who voted to reject the anti-TPP proposal said the White House's influence, not their own feelings on TPP, most impacted their decision.
Citing "people with knowledge of the platform negotiations," the newspaper reports how
Sanders used his post-primary meeting with the president to say he would push for the party to officially oppose the TPP. The president said he would now allow it. And since then, the White House has leaned on key Democrats to make sure that the platform did not include a rebuke.
This is how Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), co-chair of the platform committee, explained his vote: "We have one president, and I have listened to him argue his case many times, and I know that he truly believes this. He really does. I disagree with him, but I don't want to do anything, as he ends his term, to undercut the president. I'm just not going to do it. In his last six months? I'm not gonna do that."
Sanders, however, appears very willing to challenge the president on the issue that he believes will so negatively impact the planet, people, and communities for generations to come.
"Well, I don't want to embarrass the president either. He's a friend," Sanders told USA Today in an interview this week. "But in a Democratic society, people can have disagreements."
In a series of tweets that began Wednesday night and continued into Thursday morning, he made it clear that the fight over TPP is among the foremost issues on his mind:
\u201cOur job is to do everything we can to rally support for an amendment to the platform in strong opposition to the TPP. #StopTPP\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1467235477
\u201cTell the DNC: We have gotta strongly oppose bad trade agreements like the TPP in the Party Platform. #StopTPP\nhttps://t.co/PdXXerIGt0\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1467242708
\u201cThe TPP is a continuation of our disastrous trade policies that have devastated manufacturing cities all over this country. #StopTPP\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1467248463
\u201cWe need trade policies that benefit American workers, not just corporate CEOs. Democrats must do all they can to defeat the TPP. #StopTPP\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1467293695
\u201cTrade is a good thing but it has to be fair. And the TPP is anything but fair. We must ensure the TPP doesn't come up for a vote. #StopTPP\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1467299525
The question, however, remains: If a majority of the Democrats on the panel oppose the TPP, the presumptive nominee opposes it, and the challenging candidate who won 22 primary contests by stirring the hopes of millions of voters opposes it, why can't the DNC leadership take this opportunity to recalibrate the party's trajectory on this seminal issue?
The full Democratic Platform Committee will meet in Orlando on July 8th and 9th to approve the final draft of the platform.
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Trump Just Drove a Truck Through Hole DNC Platform Panel Left in Clinton's TPP Promise
Platform committee's waffling on trade leaves Clinton vulnerable to Trump's predictable attacks
Jun 28, 2016
Laying bare how dangerous it could be for Democrats to ignore populist opposition to corporate-friendly "free trade" deals, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday attacked Hillary Clinton for her stance on trade in general and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in particular.
In Monessen, Pennsylvania, Trump said the "TPP would be the death blow for American manufacturing" and vowed to "withdraw" the U.S. from the agreement.
According to prepared remarks, he said Clinton took "a leading part" in drafting the 12-nation deal, noting that the former secretary of state "praised or pushed the TPP on 45 separate occasions and even called it the 'gold standard'.
"Hillary Clinton was totally for the TPP just a short while ago, but when she saw my stance, which is totally against it, she was shamed into saying she would be against it too," he said. "But have no doubt, she will immediately approve it if it is put before her, guaranteed. She will do this just as she has betrayed American workers for Wall Street throughout her career."
With this claim, MSNBC reporter Alex Seitz-Wald wrote on Twitter, Trump appeared to be "speaking directly to [Bernie] Sanders supporters." Sanders has made opposition to the TPP and other rights-trampling deals a cornerstone of his campaign.
Trump also said he would renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)--and placed partial blame for that deal at Clinton's feet. "It was Bill Clinton who signed NAFTA in 1993 and Hillary Clinton who supported it," he said.
The real estate mogul's speech follows the Democratic National Committee's platform drafting panel's vote not to oppose the TPP, despite the fact that both Clinton and Sanders have opposed the deal. As Common Dreams reported, the Clinton-allied majority on the committee outvoted the Sanders delegates 10-5 to defeat the anti-TPP measure, citing President Barack Obama's support.
In doing so, argues Dave Johnson of the Campaign for America's Future in an op-ed Tuesday, they handed Trump "powerful ammunition" for his claims that Clinton is only "pretending" to oppose the agreement.
Johnson writes:
TPP and past "trade" deals are incredibly unpopular with working-class voters, and Republicans are preparing a full-scale attack on Clinton's credibility over the unpopular TPP. They are making the case that Clinton actually supports TPP but is pretending she does not in order to get votes. They say the president's efforts to pass TPP in the post-election "lame duck" session back up their claims. This pro-TPP vote by Clinton supporters on the platform committee will likely bolster the Republican argument.
[...] It appears that the party elite just don't understand the public's overwhelming opposition to TPP. The pro-TPP members of the platform committee say they must support a Democratic president. But what about the interests of the public, labor and working people, the environment, the economy and their own nominee?
In an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell on Tuesday, Sanders agreed that the committee's established voices were working against the party and undermining Clinton's stated position.
"I was quite surprised to see that Secretary Clinton's delegates rejected our proposal to kill the TPP even though she has indicated she does not want to see it get onto the floor [of the U.S. Congress]," Sanders told Mitchell.
Meanwhile, as in the primary campaign, Clinton's refusal to come out swinging against corporate-friendly trade deals is costing her support of working-class voters in the general election--a dynamic Public Citizen's Lori Wallach predicted back in March when she declared: "Americans' opposition to job-killing trade policies fueled the stunning Bernie Sanders upset victory in Michigan. However, it could also be a deciding factor in the general election, especially with Donald Trump being the likely GOP nominee. The outcome of the Michigan primary shows the potency of trade issues and foreshadows the trouble Hillary Clinton could face winning key Midwestern states in a race against Trump."
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Democratic Party Platform Committee Undermines Clinton On TPP
Jun 28, 2016
The Democratic party's elites must not think that trade and jobs will be big issues in the coming election. Apparently, they've never listened to a Donald Trump speech and didn't notice that working-class people in the United Kingdom just voted for "Brexit" from the European Union (EU) over these issues.
The Democratic platform writing committee has voted not to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Most of the committee is pro-TPP, saying that opposing the agreement would undermine President Obama's efforts to pass it.
The problem is, this hands Trump, as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, powerful ammunition as he says Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton is only "pretending" to oppose the agreement.
Platform Committee Won't Oppose TPP
The Hill explains, in "Sanders: 'We lost some very important fights' in Democratic platform":
[T]he panel did block several proposals favored by Sanders and his supporters. It refused to adopt a proposed amendment by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) that would have opposed President Obama on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) -- both Sanders and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton have spoken against the trade deal. Instead, the panel backed a measure that acknowledged "a diversity of views in the party" on the TPP.
More from AP: "Democrats reject platform proposal opposing trade deal":
Democrats on Friday voted down an amendment to the party's platform that would have opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, avoiding an awkward scenario that would have put its statement of values at odds with President Barack Obama.
Members of a Democratic National Convention drafting committee defeated a proposal led by Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., that would have added language rejecting the Pacific Rim trade pact, which has been opposed by presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
The panel, which is developing the party's platform ahead of next month's Philadelphia convention, instead backed a measure that said "there are a diversity of views in the party" on the TPP and reaffirmed that Democrats contend any trade deal "must protect workers and the environment."
Trump, Republicans Attacking Clinton Over TPP
TPP and past "trade" deals are incredibly unpopular with working-class voters, and Republicans are preparing a full-scale attack on Clinton's credibility over the unpopular TPP. They are making the case that Clinton actually supports TPP but is pretending she does not in order to get votes. They say the president's efforts to pass TPP in the post-election "lame duck" session back up their claims. This pro-TPP vote by Clinton supporters on the platform committee will likely bolster the Republican argument.
Trump gave a major speech on June 22, attacking Clinton for "corruption." A major portion of the speech was dedicated to his opposition to TPP, and claims that Clinton actually supports the agreement, only claiming to oppose it to get votes. He said:
Hillary Clinton has also been the biggest promoter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which will ship millions more of our jobs overseas - and give up Congressional power to an international foreign commission.
Now, because I have pointed out why it would be such a disastrous deal, she is pretending that she is against it.
Backing up Trump's arguments, Republicans and Republican outlets have started to go after Clinton again and again over TPP. The danger is that when conservative outlets begin a drumbeat, "mainstream" outlets often pick it up and amplify it.
This is what right-leaning voters are hearing. This is from Fox News, headlined "Paperback version of Clinton's 'Hard Choices' omits her former TPP trade pact support":
The paperback version of Hillary Clinton's memoir "Hard Choices" fails to include her support of the international trade pact TPP that rivals Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have opposed, raising criticism about Clinton "reinventing herself" for the general election race.
On Breitbart, one post is headlined, "Donald Trump: Clinton's TPP Would Sacrifice American Jobs and Economic Independence":
A Hillary Clinton Presidency would enact the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and lead to a massive jobs depression in the same pattern of Clinton's career according to Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump who laid out a litany of Clinton misconduct in a highly anticipated Wednesday morning address.
"If [Hillary Clinton] is elected President she will adopt the Trans-Pacific Partnership and we will lose millions of jobs and our economic independence for good," said Trump.
Just as she has betrayed the American worker and trade at every single stage of her career and it will be even worse than the Clinton's NAFTA deal. And I never thought it could get worse than that. We will lose jobs. We will lose employment. We will lose taxes. We will lost everything. We will lose our country.
"Mainstream" outlets are already amplifying Trump's theme:
* World Trade Online: "Trump Says Clinton Only 'Pretending' To Oppose TPP"
* Morning Consult: "Trump Says Clinton Would Implement Controversial Trade Deal"
* Time: "Donald Trump Accuses Hillary Clinton of Corruption as Secretary of State":
One of Trump's main lines of attack was on Clinton's position on the Trans Pacific Partnership, the massive trade deal that would link the U.S. and 11 Pacific Rim nations. "If she becomes president she will adopt the Trans Pacific Partnership," Trump argued.
Dem Platform Handing This Issue To Trump
The Brexit vote shows that people are sick and tired of elite schemes to drive down wages. TPP is one such scheme and voters get it.
Trump, Sanders, and Clinton have all expressed opposition to the TPP. President Obama apparently doesn't understand what is happening in the world in reaction to the damage workers have suffered from trade agreements.
John Nichols writes at The Nation, in "What the Democrats Must Learn About Free-Trade Deals From Brexit":
Plenty of Americans are unsettled about Britain's vote to exit the European Union. And a lot of what unsettles them is Donald Trump's claim that the Brexit vote sets the stage for a similar reaction against elite political and economic arrangements in the United States.
[. . .] The Leave campaigners in the UK succeeded because there are millions of working-class voters--many of them in the left-leaning "Labour heartlands" of northern England--who know that globalization has not worked for them. Well, there are millions of Americans in battleground states such as Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina who know that globalization has not worked for them.
... "It is hard for me to understand why Secretary Clinton's delegates won't stand behind Secretary Clinton's positions in the party's platform," says Sanders, who has said he will vote for Clinton in her race with Trump but argues that the platform must be strengthened in order to better position Clinton to beat the presumptive Republican nominee.
It is difficult to understand why Clinton supporters are blocking efforts to oppose the TPP agreement. Handing the issue to Trump reinforces his position that Clinton is only "pretending" to oppose it.
The party elite doesn't understand the public's overwhelming opposition to the TPP. The platform committee's pro-TPP members say they must support a Democratic president. But what about the interests of the public, labor, and working people, the environment, the economy, and their own nominee?
Send Democratic party elites a message with this petition: "Don't undermine our presidential nominee. No lame-duck vote on the TPP!" The louder the noise is before the full platform committee, the more likely they are to relent and avoid a full convention floor fight.
Also, see this must-watch video, Burning Issues: Explaining The 'Revolt' Against the TPP:
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