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Minnesota Dems Advance Bill to Ban Election Interference by Multinational Corporations
"The Democracy for the People Act will help put power back in the hands of citizens," said one campaigner.
Apr 14, 2023
Campaigners who have long pushed cities and states to adopt bans on foreign corporate interference in elections applauded Friday after the Minnesota House of Representatives passed legislation that would make the state the first to prohibit foreign-influenced corporations from spending money on electoral campaigns.
The provision is part of the Democracy for the People Act, which passed 70-57 along party lines late Thursday night after several hours of debate.
The national nonprofit organization Free Speech for People successfully advocated for Democrats in the state House to include the new rule, which would prohibit companies with at least a 5% ownership stake by multiple foreign owners or a 1% stake by a single foreign owner from spending money in Minnesota state and local elections. The companies would also be barred from donating to super PACs.
"Multinational corporations are corrupting representative democracy by drowning out the voices of the people," said Alexandra Flores-Quilty, campaign director at Free Speech For People. "The Democracy for the People Act will help put power back in the hands of citizens."
The organization pushed lawmakers in Seattle to pass similar legislation in 2020, and Hawaii, California, Washington, New York, and Massachusetts are all considering state-level bans modeled on a proposal developed by Free Speech for People.
The group worked closely with state Rep. Emma Greenman (DFL-63B) to pass the legislation.
"This package of commonsense solutions rests on a simple premise," said Greenman during the debate over the bill, "that our state works best when Minnesota voices are at the center of our democracy."
\u201cRep. Emma Greenman [@emmagreenman] talks about what the Democracy for the People Act would mean for Minnesota. #mnleg\u201d— Minnesota House DFL Majority (@Minnesota House DFL Majority) 1681418475
The legislation now heads to the state Senate, where the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL)—the state's affiliate of the Democratic Party—has a majority of seats. Gov. Tim Walz (DFL) has said he supports the bill.
We Choose Us, a statewide grassroots coalition of advocacy groups and unions, conducted polling last November and found that 80% of Minnesota voters back the provision barring election interference by multinational companies.
"Minnesota has long been a leader in democracy and so it's no surprise that the House voted today to put Minnesota on the path to becoming the first state to prohibit foreign-influenced corporations from spending in our elections," said Lilly Sasse, campaign director for We Choose Us. "It's clear to the people of Minnesota that prohibiting foreign-influenced corporations from spending in our elections is good for our democracy. And after today, it's clear that we're on the path to signing it into law."
The group also found broad support for other provisions in the Democracy for the People Act, including automatic voter registration, backed by 73% of Minnesota voters.
The legislation would also permit 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote, establish a statewide vote-by-mail system, protect election workers and voters from harassment, and require voting instructions and ballots to be provided in non-English languages.
"Minnesotans want to ensure that voters always will have the biggest say in the decisions that will impact their lives," state House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-34B) told the ABC affiliate KSTP. "Our legislation will strengthen the freedom to vote, protect our democratic institutions and Minnesota voters, and empower voters, not corporations or wealthy special interests in our elections.”
Free Speech for People is also backing a federal proposal by U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) to bar multinational corporations from interfering in elections.
"By banning multinational corporations spending unlimited sums of money to influence our elections," said the group, "we are upholding the letter of the law and getting us one step closer to a democracy that is truly by and for the people.
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Eighth Anniversary of U.S.-Korea FTA Shows Failure of Obama's 'More Exports, More Jobs' Free Trade Promises
Trade Deficit With Korea Balloons 90 Percent as Exports Fall and Imports Surge Under Korea Pact, a Template for the TPP
Jun 30, 2015
Today's eighth anniversary of the signing of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA), implemented by the Obama administration in March 2012, highlights the devastating impacts of the pact, which served as the U.S. template for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Government data reveal a near-doubling of the job-displacing U.S. goods trade deficit with Korea in the FTA's first three years, casting a dark shadow over President Barack Obama's push for the already controversial TPP.
"Knowing that the U.S.-Korea FTA was the template of the Trans-Pacific Partnership causes grave concern. The Obama administration's history of record-breaking trade deficits and lost jobs tells a very different story than its promises of 'more exports and more jobs,'" said Alisa A. Simmons, deputy director for Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. "The American public is not willing to go on another free trade ride that fills the coffers of multinational corporations while offshoring good jobs and suppressing our wages."
U.S. government data covering the full first three years of the U.S.-Korea FTA reveal that:
- The U.S. goods trade deficit with Korea has swelled 90 percent, or $13.6 billion, in the first three years of the Korea FTA (comparing the year before the FTA took effect with the third year of implementation).
- The trade deficit increase equates to the loss of more than 90,000 American jobs in the first three years of the Korea FTA, counting both exports and imports, according to the trade-jobs ratio that the Obama administration used to project job gains from the deal.
- U.S. goods exports to Korea have dropped 7 percent, or $3 billion, under the Korea FTA's first three years.
- U.S. imports of goods from Korea have surged 18 percent, or $10.6 billion in the first three years of the Korea FTA.
- Record-breaking U.S. trade deficits with Korea have become the new normal under the FTA - in 35 of the 36 months after the Korea FTA took effect, the U.S. goods trade deficit with Korea exceeded the average monthly trade deficit in the three years before the deal. In January 2015, the monthly U.S. goods trade deficit with Korea topped $3 billion - the highest level on record.
- The 90 percent surge in the U.S.-Korea goods trade deficit in the first three years of the FTA starkly contrasts with the 2 percent decrease in the global U.S. goods trade deficit during the same period. And while the strengthening value of the dollar has inhibited overall U.S. exports recently, U.S. goods exports to the world have remained level (zero percent change) while U.S. exports to Korea have fallen during the FTA's first three years.
- The U.S. manufacturing trade deficit with Korea has grown 47 percent, or $10.6 billion, since implementation of the Korea FTA. The increase owes to a 1 percent, or $0.5 billion, decline in U.S. exports to Korea of manufactured goods and a 17 percent, or $10.1 billion, increase in imports of manufactured goods from Korea.
- U.S. exports to Korea of agricultural goods have fallen 5 percent, or $323 million, in the first three years of the Korea FTA. U.S. agricultural imports from Korea, meanwhile, have grown 29 percent, or $103 million, under the FTA. As a result, the U.S. agricultural trade balance with Korea has declined 6 percent, or $426 million, since the FTA's implementation.
The push to gain congressional approval for the TPP becomes more politically fraught as 2016 draws nearer, with presidential contenders from both parties recently adding their voices to the widespread criticism of the pact. This anniversary of the signing of the U.S.-Korea FTA - a grim reminder of the devastating impacts of the status quo trade model that the TPP would expand - will only fuel broader opposition to the TPP among members of Congress, the public and presidential candidates.
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'A Great Day for Corporate America': US Senate Passes Fast Track
'Shameful' vote all but ensures approval of mammoth trade deals like the TransPacific Partnership
Jun 23, 2015
In a win for multinational corporations and the global one percent, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday narrowly advanced Fast Track, or Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), ensuring for all practical purposes the continued rubber-stamping of clandestine trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
The cloture motion to end debate needed 60 votes and it got just that, passing the chamber 60-37. The full roll call is here. A final vote will come on Wednesday. Having overcome the biggest hurdle, the legislation is expected to pass, and will then be sent to President Barack Obama's desk to become law.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who campaigned vigorously against Fast Track, said the vote represented a win for corporate America. "The vote today--pushed by multi-national corporations, pharmaceutical companies and Wall Street--will mean a continuation of disastrous trade policies which have cost our country millions of decent-paying jobs," the presidential candidate said in a statement.
And Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), another of the most vocal opponents of Fast Track, railed against TPA moments before the vote, accusing Congress of turning on its "moral" obligation to assist the working class.
"How shameful," Brown said. "We're making this decision knowing people will lose their jobs because of our action."
According to The Hill:
Thirteen Democrats backed fast-track in Tuesday's vote, handing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) a major legislative victory. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) voted against the procedural motion.
The Democrats cast "yes" votes even though the trade package did not include a worker's assistance program for people displaced by increased trade. The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program was a part of the last fast-track package approved by the Senate in May, but became a key part of opposition to the package among Democrats in the House.
Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, pointed out that the vote only came about via "elaborate legislative contortions and gimmicks designed to hand multinational corporations their top priority."
Such contortions were necessary, she added, "because the American people overwhelmingly oppose these deals, notwithstanding an endless barrage of propaganda."
Indeed, the response from the progressive grassroots was fast--and furious.
"We're outraged that Congress today voted to fast track pollution, rather than the job-creating clean energy we need to address climate change," said May Boeve, executive director of 350.org. "It's clear this deal would extend the world's dependence on fracked gas, forbid our negotiators from ever using trade agreements in the fight against global warming, and make it easier for big polluters to burn carbon while suing anyone who gets in the way. That's why we're so disappointed President Obama has taken up the banner for ramming this legislative pollution through the halls of Congress, in a way he never pushed for a climate bill."
Groups threatened political fall-out for those Democrats who voted in favor of Fast Track.
"Senate Democrats who just voted to proceed on Fast Track for the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership openly betrayed the grassroots Democratic activists who helped elect them and have been exceedingly clear in their opposition to any legislation that allows more NAFTA-style trade deals to be jammed through Congress," said Jim Dean, chair of Democracy for America. "The Senate Democrats who allowed Fast Track should know that this vote will be remembered, it will not be erased, and we will hold you accountable."
Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, echoed that warning as she declared, "The senators who provided the margin of Fast Track victory will face angry voters in their next elections. Constituents will hold them accountable for putting the interests of transnational corporations ahead of the public."
In addition to calling out Senate Democrats who "betrayed people and the planet" by voting for cloture on Tuesday, National People's Action Campaign executive director George Goehl lambasted "the virtual silence of the leading Democratic candidate for president," which he said "shows the stranglehold corporations have over both political parties."
And Sarah Anderson, director of the Global Economy program at the Institute for Policy Studies, said it was clear who will benefit most if the pending deals are given final passage. Today is a "great day for the big money interests," she said following the Senate vote.
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