Fast track (trade)
"[4] If a trade agreement that reduces tariffs or non-tariff barriers to trade negotiated by the executive branch met the guidelines set by Congress, the TPA allowed Congress to "consider the required implementing bill under expedited procedures pursuant to which the bill may come to the floor without action by the leadership.
The broader goals encapsulated the overall direction trade negotiations take, such as enhancing the United States' and other countries' economies.
Principal objectives were detailed goals that Congress expected to be integrated into trade agreements, such as "reducing barriers and distortions to trade (e.g., goods, services, agriculture); protecting foreign investment and intellectual property rights; encouraging transparency; establishing fair regulatory practices; combating corruption; ensuring that countries enforced their environmental and labor laws; providing for an effective dispute settlement process; and protecting the U.S. right to enforce its trade remedy laws".
TPA authority was then further extended to April 16, 1994,[10][11][12] the day after the Uruguay Round concluded in the Marrakech Agreement, transitioning GATT into the World Trade Organization (WTO).
[13] Republican Presidential candidate George W. Bush made fast track part of his campaign platform in 2000.
[14] In May 2001, as president he made a speech about the importance of free trade at the annual Council of the Americas in New York, founded by David Rockefeller and other senior U.S. businessmen in 1965.
[15] At 3:30 a.m. on July 27, 2002, the House passed the Trade Act of 2002 narrowly by a 215 to 212 vote with 190 Republicans and 27 Democrats making up the majority.
[16] In October 2011, the Congress and President Obama enacted into law the Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, the South Korea–U.S.
Trade Promotion Agreement using fast track rules, all of which the George W. Bush administration signed before the deadline.
[18] Under the TPA, Congress authorizes the President to negotiate "free trade agreements ... if they are approved by both houses in a bill enacted into public law and other statutory conditions are met.
[19] In December 2013, 151 House Democrats signed a letter written by Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and George Miller (D-CA), which opposed the fast track trade promotion authority for the TPP.
In January 2014, House Democrats refused to put forward a co-sponsor for the legislation, hampering the bill's prospects for passage.
Senators introduced "The Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015", which is commonly known as TPA Fast-track legislation.
[30] The ultimate approval of this legislation conferred on the Obama administration "enhanced power to negotiate major trade agreements with Asia and Europe."
[1] According to AT&T executive chairman Randall L. Stephenson, the TPA was "critical to completing new trade agreements that have the potential to unleash U.S. economic growth and investment".
Destler of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, fast track "has effectively bridged the division of power between the two branches.
Normal congressional committee processes were forbidden, meaning that the executive branch is empowered to write lengthy legislation on its own with no review or amendments."
In 2012, Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) complained that corporate lobbyists were given easy access while his office was being stymied, and even introduced protest legislation requiring more congressional input.
