[CTC] TPP at the DNC

[Arthur Stamoulis]

A few on TPP at the DNC...


This Sleeper Issue Took Over The Democratic Convention’s First Night
The Huffington Post
By Zach Carter
July 26, 2016
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trans-pacific-partnership-democratic-convention_us_5797b7a3e4b0d3568f84c875 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trans-pacific-partnership-democratic-convention_us_5797b7a3e4b0d3568f84c875> 
 
PHILADELPHIA ― The first day of the Democratic National Convention was defined by powerful speeches urging party unity and angry protests rejecting those calls. But the convention hall was also abuzz with policy debates over the direction of the Democratic Party, and no single issue dominated there like the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

And that’s kind of amazing. Most people think TPP is really boring, if they’ve heard of it at all. The controversial trade deal gets almost no play on TV news; it’s frequently buried in the back pages of newspapers. Even in the usually marginalized realm of stories about economic policy, it takes a backseat to issues like breaking up big banks or raising the minimum wage.

But TPP was a huge deal on Monday night. Anti-TPP buttons and stickers adorned the shirts and backpacks of hundreds of delegates, while signs attacking the trade pact were hoisted across the convention floor ― only “Michelle” signs celebrating the first lady were more ubiquitous. And vocal protests from TPP opponents provided some of the most dramatic moments of the evening.

We’ll get to the exciting part (fights!) in a minute. First, the basic facts: TPP is a trade agreement among a dozen Pacific nations, including the United States. It’s also a major foreign policy endeavor and a broad slate of regulatory standards affecting everything from prescription drug prices to greenhouse gas emissions. The deal, which has been signed but not yet ratified, gives corporations ― but not workers, consumers or nonprofit groups ― the right to challenge a country’s laws before an international court. So TPP is widely viewed as an expansion of corporate influence over policy decisions both at home and abroad.

That angers a lot of traditionally Democratic constituencies. Labor unions, environmental groups and public health advocates have all cried foul over the pact, which is opposed by both the presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). President Barack Obama, however, considers TPP a cornerstone of his presidential legacy. And he has powerful allies in pushing the deal, including Republican leaders in Congress, much of the foreign policy establishment and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a top lobbying group for major corporations.

Protesters disrupted Rep. Elijah Cummings’ speech as they shouted, “No TPP! No TPP!”

Now, convention fights! TPP unrest was obvious from the opening gavel on Monday. Less than an hour into the event, protesters holding anti-TPP signs gathered on the convention floor, positioning themselves directly in front of the podium. Midway through a speech by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), they unfurled a banner and began chanting, “No TPP! No TPP!” They disrupted the remaining four minutes of the congressman’s talk.

Cummings is a progressive. So are TPP opponents. But this wasn’t an unfocused act of frustration. During negotiations over the Democratic Party platform, Cummings had served as the chief defender of the trade deal, trying to block anti-TPP language to avoid “embarrassing the president,” as Heather Gautney, a pro-Sanders member of the platform committee, detailed in The Nation. Protesters on Monday were putting TPP supporters on notice: Even Cummings doesn’t get a free pass.

The TPP agitation was heavily concentrated among Sanders delegates. Although both candidates oppose the deal, Clinton helped work on the pact during her time as secretary of state, and her vice presidential pick, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), supported the deal before joining the ticket. The choice of Kaine, in particular, has left many in the Democratic coalition skeptical about the strength of Clinton’s anti-TPP conviction.

DNC speakers and presentations kept up the pressure throughout the night. The heads of multiple unions blasted TPP from the party-sanctified podium. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) mocked Donald Trump for relying on overseas labor for his line of clothing. A comedy video from former Obama economic adviser Austan Goolsbee and Ken Jeong did the same: Trump claims he’s against trade deals that ship jobs overseas, but he makes his shirts in Bangladesh! And his ties in China!

It’s a clever dig ― although, like Kaine, Goolsbee is a recent convert. The economist has long defended free trade deals. In 2008, then an adviser to Obama’s presidential campaign, Goolsbee sparked a minor scandal when he was caught reassuring Canadian officials that Obama wasn’t really serious about renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement despite his campaign rhetoric. NAFTA is the blueprint for TPP.

But the Sanders delegates against TPP aren’t all Rust Belt nostalgics longing for factory jobs of yore. One Pittsburgh delegate expressed opposition to the deal on environmental grounds, siding with the Sierra Club and other groups that expect the pact to increase trade in fossil fuels. A delegate from Iowa cited the lack of wage growth in Mexico after the passage of NAFTA and referenced the rights of the global poor. Yet another from California was concerned about the terms granting drug companies long-term monopolies, which would allow them to increase the price of prescription medications.

These complaints share a common theme. For different reasons, the delegates are all worried that greater concentration of corporate power will erode living standards for ordinary people. TPP then is a perfect distillation of the dominant theme of Sanders’ campaign: Major corporations have too much power over America.

The anti-TPP activism continued on the convention floor until the end of Monday night. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), arguably Sanders’ closest ideological ally in the upper chamber, received a lukewarm reception, peppered with occasional protest chants from Bernie voters still upset with her late endorsement of Clinton. The one issue that silenced the haters and elicited a genuine roar from the crowd? Her call to kill the trade deal.

Bernie Sanders, speaking at the convention, urged his supporters to vote for Hillary Clinton but keep up the revolution.
Then it was Sanders’ turn.

“I am happy to tell you that at the Democratic Platform Committee there was a significant coming together between the two campaigns, and we produced by far the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party,” he said. Among the points of proof: It “calls for strong opposition to job-killing free trade agreements like the TPP.”

That comment was something of a political finger in the party’s eye. Cummings’ efforts during the platform talks were at least partly successful: The platform does not explicitly reject the TPP. But it describes the kinds of deals the party would reject in terms that TPP critics say apply to the Pacific pact.

“We will oppose trade agreements that do not support good American jobs, raise wages, and improve our national security,” the platform states. “We should never enter into a trade agreement that prevents our government, or other governments, from putting in place rules that protect the environment, food safety, or the health of American citizens or others around the world.”

The Obama administration, of course, denies that any of these things apply to TPP. And activists in Monday’s crowd knew what the platform failed to do ― that’s why they targeted Cummings. But they also appreciated Sanders’ verbal maneuver. If Democrats broadly accept that the platform language is a rejection of TPP, it will be.

So they cut off Sanders’ speech with another round of “No TPP! No TPP!” Then Bernie gave them marching orders: When Obama pushes for a vote to ratify the deal in the lame-duck session of Congress, it’s their job to stop it.

Sanders spent much of his speech urging his followers to keep up the political revolution after the November election. A TPP vote in the lame-duck session could be their first major test.

Bernie Sanders Delegates Prepare to Confront Obama About TPP, Symbol of Corporate Control
The Intercept
By Zaid Jilani
July 26, 2016
https://theintercept.com/2016/07/26/bernie-sanders-delegates-prepare-to-confront-obama-about-tpp-symbol-of-corporate-control/ <https://theintercept.com/2016/07/26/bernie-sanders-delegates-prepare-to-confront-obama-about-tpp-symbol-of-corporate-control/> 
 
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both now oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — so why were so many Bernie Sanders delegates yelling about it Monday night and waving anti-TPP signs over their head?

The TPP has become a hot-button issue for a lot of progressives who want the party to take a more anti-corporate tone.

Some of the opposition comes from bad memories of the lost jobs that came in the wake of the NAFTA agreement in the 1990s. But the TPP is not actually a free trade pact. It won’t lower tariffs, the most common trade barriers.

In fact, the TPP is more focused on crafting regulatory regimes that benefit certain industries. It would expand corporate and investor rights at the expense of medical affordability, the environment, and labor rights.

For Bernie Sanders supporters — and some Trump supporters — the TPP has become shorthand for corporate control of the political process. Hillary Clinton was a late convert — and not particularly sincere at that.

So that’s why you saw Sanders delegates waving their sign around — and that’s why some of them plan to make their opposition known Wednesday night when the pact’s foremost proponent, President Barack Obama, speaks on the convention floor.

It’s not just a matter of principle either. Although Obama is leaving office, opponents of the pact worry that the next five months offer him an opportunity to seek a final vote on the agreement, including during the crucial lame-duck session after the election, but before inauguration.

Utah Sanders delegate Cheryl Butler told The Intercept that she anticipates the same raucous chants and sign-waving against the TPP that took place on the DNC floor on Monday.

“I think people that are very strongly against the TPP have a right and responsibility to make their voices heard,” she said.

Early Tuesday morning, during Oregon’s state party meeting, delegates broke out into chants of “No TPP!” during a speech by its Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, who supports the agreement.

Jeremy Likens, a Sanders delegate from Oregon, explained that the campaign’s delegates came to the convention to move the party on issues, not just to support the Vermont senator.

“We’re here; we’re informed voters who care about things, like making sure to stop the TPP,” he said.

Carolanne Fry, another pledged Sanders delegate from Oregon, said she has met numerous Clinton delegates who also oppose the TPP, but that they didn’t appreciate the sign-waving tactics on Monday. “They were getting really frustrated that we were holding them,” she reflected.

Indeed, several Clinton delegates told The Intercept that they trusted Clinton’s judgment on the issue and would not take part in any protests of Obama’s speech.

Elena McCullough, who serves as the vice president of the Democratic Hispanic Caucus of Florida and as an at-large delegate for Clinton from Florida, said she prefers to trust her candidate over taking protest action.

“When [Clinton] takes the reins of the country, she is going to make a decision that she believes is best for the country. I’m very certain that whatever decision she does, … she will have analyzed it, she will have researched it, and she will do what is best for the country,” she said. “I don’t think we’re going to have any kind of scuffle in any way, shape, or form. I believe we’ve come together.”

Jamian Smith, a Clinton delegate from Washington state, said she’s “pretty sure” that delegates from her delegation, which is overwhelmingly made up of Sanders backers, will engage in some sort of protest during Obama’s speech. She, however, had no intention of joining them.

“I think the TPP could be improved. I don’t think that it’s necessary to completely scuttle it,” she said. “We prefer to go in the system. … holding up signs is great, you’re making your voice heard, but nothing’s really being done when you do that.”

Victor Quiroz, a Clinton delegate from California, sported an anti-TPP button. Yet he opposed making any sort of public statement during Obama’s speech. He was confident that Clinton would maintain her position.

“You don’t … embarrass your chief. You do not do that,” he instructed, opposing any protests. “Secretary Clinton, she opposes TPP.”

‘Stop TPP' a Rallying Cry at Democratic National Convention
The Street
By Emily Stewart
July 26, 2016
https://www.thestreet.com/story/13652039/1/stop-tpp-a-rallying-cry-at-democratic-national-convention.html <https://www.thestreet.com/story/13652039/1/stop-tpp-a-rallying-cry-at-democratic-national-convention.html> 
 
When Democratic stars to the party's liberal base like Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders took the stage at the Democratic National Convention last night at the Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia, they were not given the attention usually afforded such figures as they speak. Protest chants could be heard throughout the arena and by those watching on TV: "Stop TPP." 

Opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership has become a rallying point for many at the DNC.

The 12-country trade deal was signed by President Barack Obama in February and currently awaits congressional approval; but it has already met with disapproval from political candidates in both parties and many of their supporters. Hillary Clinton initially backed the agreement but later shifted her stance to say it did not meet her standards. Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have consistently railed against it.

There is no specific language opposing the TPP in the Democratic Party platform, but many in the convention are bent on making their hostility to the deal known.

Signs and pins reading "No TPP" and "Stop TPP" are clearly visible in the convention arena and in downtown Philadelphia this week, and the excitement surrounding the issue isn't likely to die down anytime soon.

The crowd shouted, "No TPP!" over convention speakers like Representative Elijah Cummings, Warren and Sanders, shaking their signs in the air.

"TPP gives away too much. The free trade agreements that America has negotiated have given away too much -- labor unions across the board are generally against TPP, it's bad for labor," said Chad Nodland, a super delegate from Bismarck, N.D. inside the Wells Fargo Arena on the first day of the convention. Nodland decided to support Sanders about a year ago and is one of the few super delegates to do so.

Morning Trade
Politico
By Megan Cassela
July 26, 2016
http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-trade/2016/07/anti-tpp-protesters-keep-trade-a-hot-topic-at-convention-little-love-for-trump-on-wto-exit-talk-chambers-chief-lobbyist-to-retire-215536 <http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-trade/2016/07/anti-tpp-protesters-keep-trade-a-hot-topic-at-convention-little-love-for-trump-on-wto-exit-talk-chambers-chief-lobbyist-to-retire-215536> 
 
ANTI-TPP PROTESTERS KEEP TRADE A HOT TOPIC AT DEM CONVENTION: For all the rhetoric and bluster surrounding trade deals on the campaign trail, the TPP earned relatively few mentions during the prime-time speeches at the Democratic National Convention on Monday. But some of the deal's loudest opponents — wearing buttons and waving signs labeling them as "anti-TPP" — kept the subject on attendees' and viewers' minds, at one point even forcing Bernie Sanders off-script to reiterate his opposition to the deal.

"It is no secret that Hillary Clinton and I disagree on a number of issues," Sanders said toward the end of his speech, but he noted that they were still able to produce "by far the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic party."

"Among many other strong provisions, the Democratic Party now calls for ... strong opposition to job-killing trade agreements like the TPP," Sanders said, sticking closely to his prepared remarks.

But when protesters interrupted him with chants of “No TPP!", Sanders responded to them: "We have got to make sure that TPP does not get to the floor of the Congress in the lame-duck session," he said, adding a line that had not been included in his initial transcript.
 
A ‘JOB-KILLING’ DEAL: The exchange with Sanders marked the most significant mention of TPP during the prime-time convention coverage, though other speakers touched on it in passing. Ahead of Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren noted that the United States "should never, never sign trade deals that help giant corporations but leave workers in the dirt." "Hillary will fight for American workers, and we’re with her,” she added.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka praised Clinton for opposing "the job-killing TPP," while Sen. Jeff Merkley noted Democrats must "say no to bad trade deals, and that includes the TPP." Earlier, Rep. Elijah Cummings' speech was drowned out by protesters shouting their opposition to the agreement, though he was not speaking about trade at the time.

CLINTON TRADE ADVISER: TPP’S TIME HAS PASSED: Clinton will put the maligned Asia-Pacific trade deal and other new trade initiatives in the rear-view mirror if elected, focusing instead on “things that are clear job creators,” a top economic adviser to the former secretary of State said on Monday. Gene Sperling, a former White House adviser to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, told Pro Trade’s Adam Behsudi in Philadelphia that the priorities will be things like infrastructure, immigration reform, higher education relief and family medical leave.

“The time has come,” Sperling said at an event hosted by the Alliance of American Manufacturing. “This [TPP] is not what we should be focusing our time and energy on.”

Anti-TPP protesters made their voices heard at the convention, Adam reports, with Bernie Sanders backers holding a raucous rally denouncing the deal and handing out those anti-TPP buttons that both Sanders and Clinton delegates could be found sporting. The Clinton camp this week is looking to unite the party and counter Donald Trump’s populist trade message by pushing a platform based on cracking down on enforcement and growing manufacturing jobs, among other things.

"There is no division, the fact of the matter is she was on this issue like a fly on honey a long time before other members of the House and Senate were," United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard said Monday, describing her efforts as a senator from New York to focus on the loss of manufacturing jobs. Pros can read the full story here.

DEMOCRATS MAKE PARTY PLATFORM OFFICIAL: The convention started off with Democrats formally adopting the platform put forth last week, which stressed the need for greater transparency in trade negotiations but stopped short of condemning the TPP entirely or ruling out a vote on the deal during a lame-duck session.

Though expected, the move quickly drew fire from business groups. National Association of Manufacturers Senior Vice President of Policy and Government Relations Aric Newhouse said “protectionist rhetoric” on trade in the platform was “alarming,” and the failure to support the TPP “sells American workers short.”

In a statement, Newhouse noted some positives in the platform, including workforce development and immigration policies. “However, these positives are overwhelmed by one job-killing proposal after another,” he wrote.
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