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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As 'Fast Track' legislation moves
towards a floor vote in the House of Representatives, activists and
organizers in the Green Party of the United States have urged Congress
to defeat the bill.
"We encourage Americans who care about democracy and about labor
and environmental protections to
call their representatives in Congress, and tell them to say no to HR
3500," said J. Roy Cannon of the Delaware Green Party. "Fast
Track can and will be used to nullify labor and environmental
protections and to bypass Congress and public scrutiny in deference to
powerful corporate interests."
"Fast Track would also damage our constitutional balance of power,
because it would sweep away the
Senate's 'advise and consent' role in the negotiation of treaties with
foreign powers."
"Working Americans have repeatedly told their representatives, year
after year, not to approve Fast Track legislation," said Ben Manski,
member of the national Green Party's steering committee and a Wisconsin
Green. "Each and every member of Congress must know that if they
betray their constituents by voting for Fast Track now, the Green Party
will use those votes in the 2002 elections."
House Ways and Means Committee Chair Bill Thomas (Republican - CA) and
U.S. Trade Representative
Robert Zoellick, who call Fast Track a bipartisan effort to jumpstart
the economy and claim that support for Fast Track is a test of
patriotism, are pushing for a fast vote in order to avoid public debate
on a bill that will determine trade policy for the next decade. Fast
Track gives the president 'Trade Promotion Authority' -- the
extraordinary power to negotiate and accelerate trade deals without
amendment by Congress.
Greens stand with the AFL-CIO, the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth,
and other unions and environmental groups in opposing the bill.
"Free trade agreements like NAFTA have exported hundreds of
thousands of jobs, and Fast Track
will make free trade pacts and authorities even more secretive and
anti-democratic," noted Manski. "We find it shameful that
supporters of Fast Track are exploiting the September 11 tragedy to ram
HR 3500 through Congress. Such behavior is contrary to the interests of
the American people and unpatriotic."
"Family farms and food safety will be among the first
casualties," added Anita Rios, national steering committee member
and Ohio Green. "The U.S. has already allowed pesticide residues on
produce in amounts that violate current standards -- because we fear
trade challenges under current free trade pacts. Fast Track will give
the President even more power to nullify such protections."
Green Party 2
==> PLEASE NOTE: The Green Party of the United States is the only
Green political organization
organized nationally as a party, in which at least 31 states are
represented (and other states' memberships pending). It organized the
Green National Convention in Denver in June, 2000, at which Ralph Nader
was nominated to run for President, and is recognized among Green
Parties around the world. The Green Party of the United States is now in
the process of filing papers with the FEC for recognition as a national
party.
Media inquiries about national policies and activities of the Green
Party should be directed solely to the Green Party of the United States,
through its media representatives as listed in the heading above. To
contact state Green Parties, visit the Green Party of the United States
web site <http://gpus.org> and follow the
links to the state parties and their contacts and web sites.
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