CATO Analyst Says Recent TPA Poll is Misleading
The widely-reported recent poll that suggests strong public opposition to Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) contained deceptive and insufficient information and, therefore, likely produced flawed findings, said CATO Institute director of Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies, Dan Ikenson, in a Feb. 10 blog post. Commissioned by three groups that publicly oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Communication Workers of America, the Sierra Club and the U.S. Business and Industry Council, the poll questions focus only on the fast-track methods to secure TPP, says Ikenson. The poll results claim 62 percent of Americans oppose the use of TPA fast-track mechanisms to pass TPP implementation legislation (see 14020310).
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“The thrust of fast-track as implied by the question above is that Congress has no role in the process whatsoever and sits by passively while the president negotiates deals to his liking, submits them to Congress, and says take it or leave it,” said Ikenson. “Most thinking people who cherish our republican form of government should and would oppose legislation that sanctions the abdication of responsibility from one branch of government to another. But that’s not what fast track does.” The fast-track methods referred to include a 90 day up-or-down vote and the removal of an amendment process, but TPA also outlines congressional negotiating objectives.