Press Releases

UPDATE: While the vote below did not pass "fast track" authority, it passed Congress in a later vote on June 24, 2015.

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree joined a large bipartisan group of House members today to stop legislation that would have given President Obama "fast track" trade authority to push trade deals like the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) through Congress on an accelerated time table.
 
Pingree and her colleagues stopped the "fast track" legislation by defeating a bill related to the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, which effectively killed the "fast track" bill today.
 
The "fast track" legislation would make it easier to pass trade deals that are currently being negotiated in secret. 
 
"I'm very concerned with the kinds of trade deals these secret negotiations are going to produce, and I don't think we should give the Administration a fast track route to push them through Congress without any opportunity to modify or amend them," Pingree said.  "Judging by what previous trade deals have done to manufacturing jobs in Maine and across the country, there are going to be parts of these new trade deals that are going to be bad for American workers."
 
Under "fast track," Congress would not be able to modify or amend trade agreements, and would only be allowed an up or down vote on the treaty.
 
Pingree said trade deals can undermine hard-fought labor and environmental standards that have been adopted over the years here in the United States.
 
"The proponents of these trade deals want to roll back what they call 'non-tariff barriers to trade.'  That's just another way of saying they want to throw important workers' rights and environmental protections out the window in favor of bigger corporate profits," she said.