Trade Promotion Authority. This bill would authorize Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), formerly known as fast-track authority, for President Bush. (See description below for a summary of TPA).
[ Trade Promotion Authority. This bill (H.R. 3005) would give President Bush Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), formerly known as fast-track authority, to negotiate so-called free trade agreements. Under the TPA rules, Congress would only be allowed to vote yes or no on any free trade agreements presented to it by the Bush administration. President Bush has repeatedly stated that he would use TPA to complete negotiations for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) by the end of his first term. Under the guise of "free trade," the FTAA would put us on the path to loss of sovereignty in a regional government of the Western Hemisphere, in the same manner that European nations are now losing sovereignty to the EU. ]
The Senate-passed version of the bill (H.R. 3009) was broader than the House-passed bill by not only including TPA but extending trade preferences for four Andean nations and substantially expanding federal Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), including new medical insurance subsidies for workers who lose their jobs to foreign competition. The TAA benefits expansion would cost an estimated $12 billion over 10 years.
The Senate passed H.R. 3009 on May 23, 2002 by a vote of 66 to 30 (Roll Call 130). We have assigned pluses to the nays.
