Democrats break ranks with Obama over secret trade bill
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President Obama's secretive trade bill is coming under fire from some unlikely sources, namely Democratic Senators Joe Manchin (WV) and Elizabeth Warren (MA), who are both leading the charge for immediate consideration of a bill that would require the contents of President Obama's bill to be made public before any vote can be made on it.
Highlights
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
5/26/2015 (1 decade ago)
Published in Politics & Policy
Keywords: Obama, U.S., Congress, House, Senate, Elizabeth Warren
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Currently to review Obama's bill, members of Congress must enter a secured room to review the bill and can not discuss its contents in public.
Manchin and Warren even went so far as to praise former President George W. Bush who released the contents of his own trade bill back in 2001 for full and public review. President Obama, who had promised his administration would be the most transparent in U.S. history, has not.
"We're just asking for some transparency before we have this crucial vote," Warren said.
While many have heard about Obama's trade deal only members of Congress have seen it. That means no press, economic or legal experts have been able to review or advise members of Congress who will have to vote on it.
Senator Warren mocked Obama's reasoning behind keeping the bill secret. "We should keep the deal secret because if the details were made public now, the public would oppose it," she said. "Well, that's not how our democracy is supposed to work."
Before the Senate, Warren outlined her bill.
"This bill would require the president to publicly release the scrubbed bracketed text of a trade deal at least 60 days before Congress votes on any fast-track for that deal. That would give the public, the experts, the press an opportunity to review the deal. It would allow for some honest pubic debate."
Even Senator Barbara Boxer of California, a long-time supporter and yes-woman to President Obama is breaking ranks with the Liberal line. "Secrecy is no good," she said.
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