Next Week in Corporate Congress: Fast Track in Senate, Legislation From Outer Space
The Fast Track battle in the McConnell-Boehner Corporate Congress continues next week. After a Democratic rebellion Tuesday featuring a strong vote against debating Fast Track legislation (S. 995), the U.S. Senate on Thursday changed course and agreed to begin debate. Lawmakers are expected to begin offering amendments on Monday. Bill proponents are aiming to finish voting before leaving for recess at the end of the week. Recall that the dangerous legislation would allow the president to sign the harmful Trans-Pacific Partnership before Congress has voted to approve it. He could then force the deal through Congress in only 90 days, with limited debate and no amendments allowed. Learn more here.
Public Citizen is tracking other public interest attacks in the Corporate Congress next week as well:
- The misleadingly named “Financial Regulatory Improvement Act of 2015” will be marked up by the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee at 10 a.m. Thursday. A discussion draft of the bill released this week by Committee Chair Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) proposes major changes that threaten to undermine the already fragile Wall Street reforms intended to prevent another 2008 financial crisis. Get more details.
- The U.S. House of Representatives likely will vote Wednesday on the “Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship Act of 2015” (SPACE Act, H.R. 2262), which would protect a dangerous industry from legal action if they do harm. The sweeping immunity proposed by these provisions is alarming. The commercial space industry’s safety record has been shoddy with normal rules in place. The last thing Congress should be doing is passing legislation that removes this industry’s financial incentive to conduct safe commercial space operations. The bill would require both companies and passengers on commercial space flights to agree not to sue each other. It is one thing for companies with equal bargaining power to establish liability agreements between them. But it is unfair to force passengers into such agreements.