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back to Organic Consumers Assn. FTAA page Fast Track Fast Facts Fast Track Surrenders Congressional Authority Over Trade Negotiations to the President "Fast Track" is a procedure through which Congress gives the president authority to negotiate trade agreements and provides special rules for considering those agreements. Fast Track transfers constitutionally-mandated powers of Congress to the Executive Branch. Fast Track legislation has not required the president to include enforceable protections for the environment and workers' rights in our trade agreements, lacks adequate procedures for consultation with Congress and the public, harms independent farmers and limits democratic debate about trade policy. Fast Track Handcuffs the Congress Fast Track is a mechanism that delegates away to the Executive Branch this congressional authority for setting trade terms as well as other powers. Fast Track forces Congress to surrender its constitutional authority to decide terms for international trade. The White House signs and enters into trade deals before Congress ever votes on them. Fast Track also sets the parameters for congressional debate on any trade measure the President submits requiring a vote within a certain time with no amendments and only 20 hours of debate. The President Want Fast Track to Expand NAFTA and the WTO to more Countries and More Sectors of the Economy The Bush Administration hopes to use Fast Track to speed up negotiations on an expansion of NAFTA to the rest of the Western Hemisphere through the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and to promote a new round of trade negotiations at the next World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial in Qatar this fall where controversial agriculture and services negotiations are to occur. Trade Negotiations Don't Require or Even Need Fast Track Although hundreds of trade pacts were implemented since Fast Track's 1974 inception, Fast Track has been used only five times (GATT Tokyo Round, U.S.-Israel FTA, Canada-U.S. FTA, NAFTA and the GATT Uruguay Round). The Clinton Administration took credit for "nearly 300 separate trade agreements," but only two of them were submitted to Congress under Fast Track procedures. The Rep. Bill Thomas (R-CA) Sponsored Fast Track Moving in the House is the Most Diabolical Fast Track Ever The Thomas bill (H.R. 3005) is a slap in the face - it is the same old anti-labor, anti-environmental garbage that was in the 1997 and 1998 Fast Track with some new rhetoric. It does not in any meaningful way address the issues of labor and environment, it does nothing to fix the Chapter 11 NAFTA investment rules that attack key local laws, nor does it change the role of Congress to have a more active role to make sure these negotiators stop these NAFTA type deals. In fact, the Thomas bill rolls back the labor rights language that was in Nixon's 1974 Fast Track bill! Fast Track Won't Boost U.S. Economy Fast Track would do nothing to address America's security and economic needs. Fast Track does not rebuild, it does not restore, it does not heal and it will not bring America together. Instead, moving now to the predictably rancourous, divisive issue will drive America apart when what America needs is unity. Now is the wrong time to put even more manufacturing jobs which are needed for national security at risk. Thanks to past Fast Track deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement more than 550,000 manufacturing jobs had been eliminated in America in recent years. During September, 200,000 more have lost their jobs. National security is damaged by pursuing trade policies such as Fast Track which significantly erode America's manufacturing base.