"Congress is about to grant President Obama broad new negotiation power, which could lead to major increases in foreign workers and even a loss of U.S. sovereignty over immigration policy.
Starting today, the Senate Finance Committee begins voting to grant Fast-Track authority to President Obama, which would surrender to him authority to shape international trade agreements -- including immigration law! A vote before the full Senate could come as early as next week. Obama wants this Fast-Track authority to induce Congress to accept his Trans-Pacific Partnership, now in final secret negotiations with 9 nations, including Mexico, Malaysia... and even Vietnam.
Technically, the Partnership is not a treaty: the elite in Washington know they could never pass such a treaty. And Fast-Track authority wouldn't mean the Partnership is enacted into law -- yet. But Fast-Track Authority would mean the resulting trade agreements couldn't be amended or filibustered, making them virtually unstoppable.
The administration has been trying to slip this deal into law, but the only assurance the American people have from President Obama is "trust me."
"As the Senate considers Trade Promotion Authority [Fast-Track], I write to call your attention to the inclusion of provisions dealing with immigration law...
"The real danger here is that before the ink is dry and at any time during the life of the TPS, any President can negotiate changes to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and any other new agreement, and agree to changes in our immigration laws...
"Trade agreements are not the appropriate vehicle for enacting immigration laws. Such agreements have a lasting impact and cannot be amended or corrected by legislation."
-- U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL),
April 20 letter to Senate colleagues
A decade ago, Congress gave Trade Promotion Authority to President George W. Bush. He used that authority to make a deal to accept thousands of immigrants per year from Singapore, a nation of a just a few million residents.
The Senate was so outraged that it passed a resolution never again to allow trade agreements to rewrite immigration law..
"[F]ast track authority takes away Congress' ability to subject immigration proposals to the debate and amendment process so vital to creating sound immigration law.
--2003 Letter from
then-House Judiciary Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner
and Ranking Minority Member John Conyers.
Yet here they are about to give President Obama the same authority to negotiate with countries with hundreds of millions of workers. The U.S. Trade Representative's web site already refers to a chapter on "temporary" entry for more foreign workers.
Over the past decade, conservatives and progressives have fought giving such broad powers to the President. Lately, Obama has been wheeling and dealing to get the votes of Democrats who have been friendly to unions, and Republicans who believe trade agreements will solve everything. But what do the American workers get when their Congress sells off America's birthright?
We've seen a surge in new foreign workers in America in the past decade, but little growth in jobs; there has been two new immigrant workers for every new job created in America since 2001.
Yet it appears the Trans-Pacific Partnership will guarantee that a certain number of U.S. jobs go to citizens of foreign countries, long after President Obama leaves office.
It's not as if Congress is unaware that American workers would be put out of work. Senators like Ron Wyden (D-OR) are conditioning their support on new government programs for those who lose their jobs as a result of the agreement.
Shouldn't Congress condition its support on the President agreeing not to import low-wage workers to take U.S. jobs? Or better yet -- on rescinding his illegal amnesty to millions and millions of illegal aliens?
Here's what we're doing to block this bill:
1)
NumbersUSA has informed every Member of Congress that a vote for Fast-Track authority will be graded by our immigration report cards. Voting for Fast-Track will lower a Congressman's grade.
2)
You may have already seen that we're mobilizing our members to contact their Congressmen, using our toll-free phone lines and free, one-step faxing system.
3)
Our Capitol Hill team is working with our allies on the Hill, doing everything to defeat Fast-Track."
http://www.numbersusa.comAs far as I am concerned, it is high treason.