Clinton camp vetoes anti-TPP plank, rankling Sanders backers
By Joel Gehrke ( @Joelmentum) • 7/9/16 3:10 PM
Joel Gehrke Politics Reporter The Washington Examiner
You don't care about the people!" one Sanders backer said during platform fight. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Clinton camp vetoes anti-TPP plank, rankling Sanders backers
By Joel Gehrke ( @Joelmentum) • 7/9/16 3:10 PM
Joel Gehrke Politics Reporter The Washington Examiner
Hillary Clinton's allies blocked an amendment to the Democratic Party platform that would have stated formal opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, despite her refusal to back the trade agreement on the campaign trail.
"Hillary is against the TPP. Bernie is against the TPP. Let's not be bureaucrats — let's be leaders," Ben Jealous, a former leader of the NAACP and an ally of Sen. Bernie Sanders, said during a debate over the platform.
That argument failed, sparing President Obama the discomfort of a platform plank that specifically opposes a major item on his agenda. It's a snag in Clinton's efforts to appeal to Sanders' supporters by letting his proposals shape the platform, however, and might undermine her claims to oppose the agreement.
Labor union allies of Clinton, typical opponents of trade agreements, opposed the Sanders' team's specific condemnation of TPP, contenting themselves with more generic criticism of such pacts. "The trade union movement does not take a back seat to anybody regarding its opposition to bad trade deals," said Lee Saunders, who leads the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, according to the Washington Post.
Clinton has been making policy overtures to Sanders over the last week, adopting his call for a $15 an hour minimum wage into the party platform and rolling out a proposal to increase federal funding for community health centers and expand provisions of Obamacare. But the trade fight still gave rise to calls that Clinton's supporters are "fake progressive" and a walk-out by some Sanders' delegates. "You don't care about the people!" CNN quoted one as shouting. |
