[CTC] TPP in Congressional races

Tue Mar 1 06:49:08 PST 2016

Two articles below.  One on the Feingold/Johnson Senate race and one on a new challenger to Rep. Schrader…

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/russ-feingold-calls-on-ron-johnson-to-oppose-tpp-trade-deal-b99678450z1-370517481.html <http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/russ-feingold-calls-on-ron-johnson-to-oppose-tpp-trade-deal-b99678450z1-370517481.html>

Russ Feingold calls on Ron Johnson to oppose Trans-Pacific trade deal

Madison — In the race for the U.S. Senate, trade is yet another issue that separates the candidates.

On Monday, Democratic challenger Russ Feingold called on Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson to follow his lead and oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership <https://ustr.gov/tpp/>, a trade deal negotiated by President Barack Obama's administration and 11 Pacific-Rim countries.

"My opponent said he needs more time to review it. More time for what? If the Trans-Pacific Partnership will only do more damage to Wisconsin communities, what does he need to know?" Johnson told labor leaders gathered at the Wisconsin State Council of Machinist Conference.

In early February during an appearance at Marquette University, Johnson expressed support for free trade in general because "it does lift all boats," but kept his options open on whether he'll back the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

With a business background in manufacturing, Johnson has said trade deals can create good-paying <http://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=a56ea872-aaf6-462d-8a5e-5ead9a11e04d> jobs for Wisconsinites.

Feingold has long courted labor union support and voted against trade agreements during his three terms in the U.S. Senate, including the North American Free Trade Agreement. He claimed deals like NAFTA upended families and "gutted" Wisconsin's middle class.

He tried to make trade an issue in the 2010 race but failed as he lost to Johnson.

Congress is poised for a bruising fight on the deal. Last summer, Johnson voted with many other Republicans in giving Obama Trade Promotion Authority to fast track negotiations.

Key Democrats have come out against the deal, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who moved to the left on the issue amid the presidential primary challenge of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont.

Donald Trump, the New York businessman and Republican Party presidential front-runner, has said trade deals have cost the United States millions of jobs.

During this year's campaign, Feingold and Johnson have launched long-range volleys over trade. Johnson has chided Feingold for his quick rejection of the Trans-Pacific deal.

"This is an agreement of thousands of pages, and trust me, incredibly complex provisions," Johnson said during his February appearance at Marquette. "There is good, there is bad."

Johnson said he has been reaching out and soliciting "input from all the individuals, businesses, organizations, groups that are going to be affected here in Wisconsin by TPP. I'm not going to come to a snap judgment. I don't know how anybody could do that. How incredibly close minded is that?"

A Johnson campaign spokesman, Brian Reisinger, said Monday that Feingold "decided months ago to try for cheap political points by condemning this deal before he'd even read it."

He added that Johnson "believes the job of a Senator is to do his homework and put facts ahead of rhetoric or politics."

Feingold said Johnson has had more than enough time to stake out a position on the Pacific trade pact. He said a draft of the agreement was available on the Internet March, 25, 2015.

"I had an opportunity to review that draft and those provisions," he said. "I looked at it carefully and when I announced for the U.S. Senate the first position that I took, based on reviewing the rip-off that occurs in that agreement, was to oppose this agreement."

"Senator Johnson has had the opportunity since November to review this agreement that I had already reviewed," Feingold said. "I have no evidence that he looked at it."

"It's time for him to take a position," Feingold said of Johnson. "Four months is long enough."

http://portlandtribune.com/pt/9-news/295507-172907-progressive-democrat-announced-against-5th-district-congressman-kurt-schrader

'Progressive' Democrat will challenge 5th District Congressman Kurt Schrader

Proclaiming himself to be the progressive alternative, former Clackamas County state legislator Dave McTeague has announced against Oregon U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader in the Democratic primary election for the 5th Congressional District seat. 

Schrader is widely consider an independent Democrat. McTeague served six terms in the Oregon House representing Milwaukie and Oak Grove, beginning in 1984. After that, he served as the executive director of the Oregon Board of Chiropractic Examiners from 1996 to 2014. 

In his Sunday announcement, McTeague said he was inspired to run against Schrader after the incumbent congressman said he supports the Trans-Pacific Partnership international trade agreement that is a priority for President Obama. 

Schrader previously voted for the so-called Fast Trade legislation co-sponsored by Oregon U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden that clears a path for Congress to vote on the treaty. 

"Schrader’s vote for the Fast Track approval process prevents Congress from demanding any changes in the TPP, that was negotiated in secret. The more I read about the TPP, the more concerned I get that it will fundamentally undermine our middle class more than NAFTA did," McTeague said in his Sunday announcement. 

McTeague also said he would not accept any contributions from so-called super political action committees. "I agree with Sen. Bernie Sanders we have to overturn our current corrupt campaign finance system to make real fundamental changes," McTeague said. 

Schrader is serving his fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He represents Oregon's 5th Congressional District, which includes all of Marion, Polk, Lincoln and Tillamook counties as well as the bulk of Clackamas and small portions of Multnomah and Benton counties. 

Before being elected to Congress, Schrader was elected to the Oregon House, where he served from 2001 to being elected in Congress in 2008.

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826

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