• Note: You can view how specific representatives voted here.

The bill now goes back to the Senate for “reconciliation,” where Senate Majority leader [mc_name name=’Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’M000355′ ] is confident that he can move it forward.

“I know it’s hard to do, but if we step back a few paces and recall what we were all asking for a few weeks ago, we should be able to take some satisfaction in this. It means that, before July 4, the President will have signed TPA, TAA, and AGOA and Preferences, and that we will be well on our way toward enactment of a robust Customs package. That would be quite an achievement.

In the Thursday vote, the House passed TPA (fast track) without the aide to displaced workers known as TAA (or Trade Adjustment Assistance).

According to the Hill:

The White House still wants both measures to reach Obama’s desk, but is now advancing a different strategy that would see the two bills move separately.

The problem lies in the Senate, which previously approved a package that included both bills.

• Related House Passes Fast-Track Trade Bill, but Senate Outcome Uncertain

Regardless of TAA, once fast track (TPA) is approved, Barack Obama is now free to negotiate his sought-after (and secretive) Trans-Pacific Partnership aka ObamaTrade).

While unions and Democrats have been primarily opposed to #ObamaTrade due to the feared job losses, many conservatives have been opposed to ObamaTrade due to a host of other issues, not the least of which is the amount of power it cedes to Obama (and future Presidents) to bypass Congress on further trade deals, as well as the establishment of global governence on America.

[mc_name name=’Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’S001141′ ] is one such conservative opponent (via Breitbart):

“It is essential that there be no misunderstanding: fast-track preapproves the formation of not only the unprecedentedly large Trans-Pacific Partnership, but an unlimited number of such agreements over the next six years,” Sessions said. “Those pacts include three of the most ambitious ever contemplated. After TPP comes the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the United States and the European Union, followed by the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), seeking as one its goals labor mobility among more than 50 nations. Together, these three international compacts encompass three-fourths of the world’s GDP. Including the nations whose membership is being courted for after enactment, the countries involved would encompass nearly 90 percent of global GDP. Yet, through fast-track, Congress will have authorized the President to ink these deals before a page of them has been made public. Then, the Executive sends Congress ‘implementing’ legislation to change U.S. law—legislation which cannot be amended, cannot be filibustered, and will not be subjected to the Constitutional requirement for a two-thirds treaty vote.”

“This nation has never seen an agreement that compares to the TPP, which forms a new Pacific Union,” Sessions said. “This is far more than a trade agreement, but creates a self-governing and self-perpetuating Commission with extraordinary implications for American workers and American sovereignty. Such a historic international regulatory Commission should never be fast-tracked, and should never be put on a path to passage until every word has been publicly scrutinized, every question answered, and every last power understood by Congress and the American people.” [Emphasis added.]

Conservative talk-show hosts have also taken to the airwaves to blast the House GOP for granting Obama fast-track authority.

Ruch Limbaugh noted the irony of the GOP’s sellout:

“This is actually one of the most amazing things. The Democrats have worked very hard to defeat this, and I know a lot of people who have said to me ‘Rush, do you realize the debt of gratitude we owe the Democrat Party for saving this countries sovereignty because they stopped this trade deal,’” Limbaugh said. “Friends of mine who believe that it was the Democrats who saved the day on this thing by defeating it. Here you have the Republicans working overtime to help Obama pass this thing.”

While #ObamaTrade is not a done deal yet, it is getting closer to becoming reality unless people unite, en masse, and let their Senators know that their future political lives may be in jeopardy.

Here is how your Senators voted in May to give fast-track authority to Barack Obama:

Grouped By Vote Position

Call today and keep calling.
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“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)

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