Pro-Fast Track Letter Showing Freshmen GOP Split

Freshmen GOP Reps. Tom Emmer (above) of Minnesota and Mimi Walters of California tried to get all the GOP freshmen to sign a letter supporting an enormous increase in President executive authority through Fast Track. I didn’t really work.

Only 26 of the 46 GOP freshmen would sign the letter (see PDF).  Twenty refused to sign.  By contrast, 67 of 87 GOP freshmen signed a March 2011 letter supporting the Colombia, South Korea and Panama trade deals.

While Fast Track and an actual trade and global governance treaty are two different things, it shows that the constitutional, economic and sovereignty questions are becoming very significant. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce can no longer merely say “trade” and watch everyone jump to help pass the newest de-industrialization deal.

While it’s been too slow, the country is now beginning to see that the deals they supported in the past have not produced the growth and job creation that were promised.  America was lied to.  The promotional trade treaty arguments of today are simply re-runs of past arguments that turned out to be false.

The list of GOP freshmen who signed (see the “X”) and who did not sign (no “X”) are below.