The fight over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, is not over. Not by a longshot. To add insult to injury to the American worker, Congress is preparing to raid Medicare to pay for it.
This revelation just adds to a long list of reasons why we should fight against this “Corporate Handout Disguised As A Trade Deal.” ?This development is not a new one but has been buried deep within the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) language concerning this already clandestine trade agreement. The TPA is nothing more than the engine behind the fast-tracking of the largest trade deal ever. There are several appendages to the TPP deal within its framework -?Trade Assistance Programs being one of those appendages.
One could argue that all these TPP and TPA’s are just smoke screens to obscure the facts surrounding this highly controversial trade agreement. The ” Trade Adjustment Assistance Program,” (TAAP) will provide assistance to people who lose their jobs in trade deals. This measure was introduced by Sen. David?Reichert (R-WA) and?funding for?this? was slipped into the TPP trade deal. The bill would cut some $700 million from Medicare and?is so deeply embedded in the TPP that even those involved in the TPP negotiations were unaware of it.?There was no mention of this measure even discussed in the recent Senate debate concerning fast-tracking the TPP. Hopefully, it will be a part of the discussion in the forthcoming House debate.
Medicare provides excellent low-cost medical care to our citizens who need it the most – the elderly. To Congress, Medicare seems to be nothing more than a trust fund to raid.
The TAAP plan is to provide some offset to the 2.7 billion cost the extension would create.??It was Capitol Hill’s plan to masked this legislation deep in the bowels of this trade agreement and have it fast tracked along with the rest of TPP trade deal.?This writer has warned of the dangers of fast tracking the TPP.? There are just too many unknowns ?attached to this vast trade secret agreement.??However, this link with the TAAP and Sen. Reichert (R-WA) bill adds a new twist to the political shell game surrounding the TPP.
The fact that Congressional Democrats clamored for expansion of trade assistance confirms what many opponents of this deal have said all along that it would cost American workers their jobs. Congressional Republicans dubiously found the money in Medicare, and the Obama White House, who should be screaming in protest, has remained speechless.
Max Richtman, head of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare?told?the?Los Angeles Times,
“To take this cut and apply it to something completely unrelated sets a terrible precedent.”?
The proposed cuts to Medicare would not take effect until 2024 which appears in this writers view to be nothing more than a budget stratagem. It’s the old ” Washington Two-Step” lawmakers are surely going to reexamine this cut cause no one knows what the budget landscape will look like before these cuts take effect.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus, who are just becoming aware of this provision and are organizing to oppose it. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) stated, “It was buried” in the bill.”??Ellison, who opposes fast-tracking on the TPP, added:
“Medicare cut amounts to piling the costs of trade liberalization onto its victims, there will be fabulous wealth generated by the Trans-Pacific Partnership, ?he says, the people who are hurt shouldn’t have to pay for it with their jobs and then have inadequate Medicare when they get older.”
What Does This Trade Adjustment Assistance Actually Do?
The program will extend unemployment benefits for workers who lose their jobs because of the competition from foreign labor and subsidize their healthcare insurance. It would finance job retraining programs and fund job searches. Also, older workers would get a ” wage insurance plan,” covering an allowance due to any wage reduction they experience moving to a new job.
In 2008, Kara M. Reynolds of American University conducted a study that clearly showed workers who receive trade assistance did no better than regular laid off workers. Also, her study found that workers laid off ?from trade deals like the TPP on average make 30% less at their new jobs.
Looking at the bigger picture and precariousness of this slippery apparatus is history tells us how Congress gets addicted to stealing money from social programs designed to care for “We The People” when they need cash. Now, in addition, to worrying about Republicans stealing and raiding our Social Security they have Medicare in their cross-hairs now, and we have the TPP trade deal to thank for it.
