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 At the urging of a freshman representative, Iowa
Democrat Bruce Braley, the U.S. House has overwhelmingly passed a
bill that urges taxpayers to spend their stimulus checks on American
products and services.
"If the millions of American families receiving
tax rebates from the stimulus spend their checks on American-made
goods and services, the effect of the stimulus will be magnified,"
Braley said. "Buying American will infuse an additional $10 billion
into the American economy and will help narrow our growing trade
deficit."
Braley told CWA that, "I appreciate the support
of the Communications Workers to push for the passage of this
resolution. The men and women of the labor movement have known for a
long time that buying American supports American jobs."
 Last week it was House Republicans holding up
benefits for jobless workers whose aid is about to expire - though
enough of them finally came to their senses to pass the bill. Now
Senate Republicans are balking.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
attempted to bring the House bill to the floor this week,
legislation that would provide an extra 13 weeks of benefits for
unemployed workers, plus another 13 weeks for workers in states with
high unemployment. But Minority Leader John Kyl (R-Ariz.) used
Senate rules to block the bill.
About 300,000 jobless workers each month run out
of unemployment benefits. As of the end of May, 1.5 million people
had been unemployed for longer than six months, according to the
U.S. Department of Labor. The House-passed bill would extend aid to
about 3.8 million jobless workers once they run out of state
benefits.
A bill that promotes global trade as long as
agreements are fairly negotiated and include effective labor,
environmental and product safety standards is being introduced by
Democrats on Capitol Hill with the support of CWA and other labor
unions.
 "We're here to play offense," said CWA President
Larry Cohen. "We're tired of playing defense."
The
TRADE Act
calls for a review of all existing
trade agreements and provides a process to renegotiate them. The
bill includes principles outlining what should be included in future
trade agreements, and spells out that the role of Congress in trade
policymaking should be strengthened. It will reverse years of trade
policy that have elevated capital, financial and property interests
above all else, Cohen noted.
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Representative
Michael Michaud (D-Maine) and other TRADE Act sponsors, speaking
with Cohen and other labor leaders at a news conference on
Wednesday, said the bill should put an end to the myth that
Democrats and unions are opposed to trade.
"The TRADE Act will help Congress and the White
House craft a trade agreement that benefits workers, business owners
and our country," said Brown, who introduced the bill in the Senate.
"We want trade, and we want more of it. The TRADE Act is a critical
first step."
The bill is formally called the Trade Reform,
Accountability, Development and Employment Act.
Cohen said that enforceable labor standards are
critical to fair trade, so that companies can't simply abandon the
United States or other countries for nations with even weaker
workers' rights.
He called the proposed Colombia Free Trade
Agreement a "new low, even for hard-core free traders." Colombia
leads the world in denying workers the right to collective
bargaining. Simply by labeling workers as contractors,
self-employed, or cooperatives, when these workers are employed by
major corporations, Colombia has allowed 85 percent of its 18
million workers to be stripped of any possibility of gaining
collective bargaining rights. "This trend exists in the USA, but in
Colombia we see the end point with no corporate responsibility and
an extreme disparity between wage earners and the economic elite,"
he said.
Wednesday's news conference also featured Senator
Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Representative Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), and
Teamsters President James Hoffa.
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