Voter Pamphlet Statement
I will vote NO on the Trans Pacific Partnership

NAFTA. Peru. Columbia. The US-South Korea Free Trade Agreement.

I have opposed all of these agreements. Earl Blumenauer has supported them.*

And now the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).  He voted for "fast track" approval of TPP.  85% of Democrats in the House voted "no."

Even though the TPP vote could occur before January, Earl Blumenauer says that he still has not made up his mind

He can’t decide on an agreement which is not supported by a single labor union or environmental organization. He can’t decide on an agreement which has, by his own description, “weasel words” about its so-called labor and environmental "standards."

I can decide. “Free” trade agreements have destroyed American manufacturing, exported good-paying family-wage jobs, and harmed the environment.

These deals include attacks on our democracy and our sovereignty by allowing multi-national corporations to sue member nations, if laws or regulations will cause the corporations loss of FUTURE profits. Just this year, the Canadian firm, Trans Canada, sued the United States for $15 billion after President Obama decided against permitting the Keystone XL Pipeline. Last year Eli Lilly, Inc. sued Canada for refusing to grant a patent on 2 drugs the manufacturer did not prove effective.

I believe in and support:
  • $15 Federal Minimum Wage
  • Health Care is a right; make it affordable and universal
  • No cuts to social security; expand benefits; apply SS tax to all income
  • Amend US Constitution: Corporations are not people; money is not speech
  • Amend US Constitution to provide a constitutional right to vote with all votes counted accurately
  • End the wars in the middle east
  • Climate crisis: Enact a federal fee & dividend program
  • End all private prisons; reform the criminal justice system
  • Keep fossil fuels in the ground

I supported Bernie Sanders during the primary.

See the Oregon Progressive Party page for other policies.

* The implication of this statement is that Rep. Blumenauer voted in favor of NAFTA.  In fact, he had not become a member of the House of Representatives and could not vote on the legislation.