WASHINGTON - Two weeks ago, Mark Kirk voted to pass Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation - also known as “Fast Track” - giving up key congressional oversight responsibilities on trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Duckworth for U.S. Senate campaign said Thursday.
Conservatives are complaining nationwide that the bill Kirk supported will give President Obama authority over crucial immigration policy that they fear could topple the rule of law. The problem is no one really knows what the TPA contains.
GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Thursday, "I oppose this trade deal because the last time we trusted Obama with a secret deal, we got Obamacare."
Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Duckworth - who now represents the 8th Congressional District - has different reasons for rejecting the TPA.
"As the House prepares to vote tomorrow on TPA, I want you to know where I stand," she said in a statement issued Thursday. "I’m voting against this legislation."
Duckworth says she represents more manufacturers than any other member of the Illinois delegation and is aware of the benefits of trade.
"Trade agreements need tough, enforceable rules. Right now, Congress is failing to demand standards to hold other countries accountable. That’s especially true for currency manipulation," she said.
In recent decades, the Japanese government, often cited as the second most egregious currency manipulator in the world next to China, heavily devalued its currency, increasing the cost of American goods.
"As a result, the U.S. tool-and-die manufacturing industry was decimated, affecting communities in my district and across Illinois," Duckworth said. "I should know: the Eighth Congressional District is home to one of the largest concentrations of tool-and-die makers in the country, and the effects of that industry’s troubles are still being felt."
Mark Kirk had the opportunity to prevent countries like China from devaluing their currency, making their goods artificially cheaper than American products. That’s crucial to keeping other nations from cheating on our trade agreements, she said in a statement.
