When “fast track” expires at the end of the month, Congress should seize the opportunity to fashion a new course for trade policy that takes working families into account and not rubberstamp this extraordinary authority for President Bush. We have seen what President Bush does with extraordinary authority and we cannot repeat that mistake.

When the American people put the Democratic Party in control of Congress last November, they voted for a new direction, not a continuation of the failed policies of the past. And, with the exception of the war in Iraq, nothing illustrates more graphically the failed policies of the Bush administration than its approach to international trade.

The trade deficit has doubled since President Bush came to office, reaching a staggering $763.6 billion last year. Until Congress rejects this failed policy model, the economic hemorrhage will continue to threaten jobs for Americans and the economic future of our nation.

We can do better — and Democrats should show the way.

Failed trade policies have racked up the red ink and plagued the United States for far too long. As trade deficits explode, federal debt escalates. Never before has America become so indebted to foreign creditors to pay our bills; more than half the U.S deficit is now financed by foreign creditors. America should never again allow itself to be placed in a subservient position to foreign countries, global corporations or special interests.

Yet that is the real legacy of the failed NAFTA trade model. The economy in thousands of American communities, especially in the heartland, has been hollowed out as trade policies encourage multinational corporations to seek low-wage platforms in lesser-developed nations.

Meanwhile, trade agreements such as NAFTA have the same effect in other nations. We are now beginning to see vividly the relationship between international trade and immigration. As NAFTA uproots corn farmers in Mexico’s interior, for instance, they flood across our southern border, risking their lives in search of the American Dream.

The NAFTA trade model has logic, but no ethic. This is why Congress must retain its role in developing a more humane and effective policy. Rather than new agreements built on the NAFTA model, we need a democratic charter for the people of the Americas and a trade policy that operates as if people matter.

The American people are right to ask why Congress would relinquish to President Bush the constitutional authority granted by Article I, Section 8 “to regulate commerce with foreign nations.” That is exactly how fast track works.

Fast track is shorthand for Congress abdicating its constitutional obligation to regulate commerce with other nations. It blindly hands over the reins on international trade to the executive branch. It silences the will of ordinary Americans who depend on their elected representatives to protect them from harmful trade policies.  In an era of globalization and rapid change, citizens and communities need advocates in Congress who will stand up for them, not pass the buck to the president.

To date, the record of fast track has been dismal, disheartening and dangerous for American businesses and workers. The middle class in America, especially the heartland, has continued to shrink as good jobs get put on the fast track to low-wage countries. The administration cuts its deals and Congress has little say in the matter: up or down, take it or leave it. Working families are left to wonder why the legislative branch would forfeit its authority to improve trade agreements or mitigate their most harmful provisions.

Congress must stand for free trade among free people. Americans must have opportunities to work at middle class jobs with living wages and health and retirement benefits that cannot be rescinded.

The American people want a trade policy that encourages U.S. economic growth and job creation here at home. A new trade policy must respect the dignity of work, the rule of law, the equality of sexes, the importance of the environment and the value of the person. It is pure folly to expect the Bush administration would develop anything resembling a progressive trade policy that takes these values into account.

I have never supported fast track because when millions of workers across this country speak we in Congress have a responsibility to listen intently. When American jobs are being shipped overseas we in Congress have a responsibility to act on behalf of our country and its people. When this president asks for the renewal of fast track, this Congress must say no.

The Democratic Congress has a responsibility to vigorously oppose fast track and to respond with a new trade model that balances our accounts, reclaims our negotiating authority from the executive branch (as the Founders clearly intended), and responds to the needs of American communities and the American people.


Kaptur is a member of the House Appropriations and Budget committees.

SPECIAL SECTION: Trade
Standing up for American businesses, workers, farmers
Change course on U.S. trade policy
We must have fair trade
Extending trade promotion authority
Voters in November demanded a new direction for trade
Goal: Protect intellectual property from piracy in China, other countries
Combating currency misalignment
Without TPA reauthorization, trade agenda will flounder