This week, legislation to give President Obama fast-track trade agreement authority (TPA) will take its star turn in the GOP-controlled Senate. The cloture vote is said to be taking place on Tuesday, and if the 60-vote threshold is reached, the final vote on the bill will happen the same day, or on Wednesday.
More importantly, however, is the following vote, scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday, on “Trade Adjustment Assistance,” (TAA), also known as the “We sent your job to a Pacific Rim sweatshop in a country with no labor laws where people work for $2 a day during 18-hour shifts making the clothes you used to be able to afford before we laid you off, so here’s ten dollars so you can take in a movie and get your mind off things, but no popcorn for you” bill.
In other words, TAA is a bill to provide “assistance” for all the people who are absolutely going to lose their jobs if the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement (TPP) passes … and the passage of that trade bill is what all this TPA and TAA mishigas has been about.