After the Bush White House and Republican congressional leaders strong-armed lawmakers for most of a day—including a rare closed-door Capitol Hill session with President Bush and Republican U.S. House of Representative members—the House narrowly passed seriously flawed Fast Track legislation July 27. The 3:29 a.m. vote was 215–212.     

 “The U.S. House of Representatives showed a disturbing disregard for America's working men and women this morning when it bowed to corporate pressure and passed the Fast Track trade legislation, a decision which will cost millions of family-supporting jobs at a time when America's workers are already struggling in the wake of corporate wrong-doing and greed,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.

In December the House passed its version of Fast Track by just one vote, 215–214. The Senate version, which contained some stronger pro-worker provisions and protections of current U.S. trade laws, won approval in May. But a series of swift and closed-door sessions, House and Senate negotiators removed or weakened most of those Senate provisions.

The Bush administration claimed the deal is needed to shore up confidence in the U.S. economy which has nose-dived and been plagued by corporate scandals and crime since Bush took office.

“It is pure spin to say that Fast Track will boost working Americans' confidence in the market. Working people have watched unfair trade deals and growing trade deficits send millions of family-supporting jobs overseas to nations where corporations can abuse workers' rights, child labor and the environment. This Fast Track bill would only accelerate that trend,” Sweeney said.

After the agreement was reached late July 25, lawmakers had little time to digest the 100-plus pages of detailed and technical trade law.

Rep. Alcee L. Hastings (D-Fla.) said the Bush administration’s fight and Republican leaders’ pressure for the deal was “a sucker punch” for the American worker and a backroom deal “gone bad in the dead of the night.”  

The bill, which has been strenuously opposed by working people, their unions, workers’ and human rights groups, environmental organizations and consumer and agricultural groups, fails to enhance human rights, reaffirm worker rights and promote environmental protection,” House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) said.

Fast Track trade authority allows the president to negotiate trade deals but forbids Congress from improving or rejecting harmful provisions by allowing only yes or no votes on entire trade packages.

The Senate will vote on the bill the week of July 29.