FTAA progress report. (Insider Report).

As reported previously, President Bush intends to complete negotiations for the sovereignty-destroying Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) by 2005. Accordingly, one of his highest priority legislative goals for the current session of Congress is Trade Promotion Authority (TPA, formerly known as fast-track authority). The Bush administration would use TPA to expedite the multilateral negotiations required to establish the FTAA. The House narrowly passed a TPA bill last December by 215-214. On May 23rd the Senate passed a TPA bill. A House-Senate conference committee will be required to reconcile differences in their respective TPA bills. The resulting compromise bill will be submitted to both the House and Senate for a final vote. Since the House vote was so close last December, there is still some chance that Congress will not pass TPA. However, the Power Elite can be expected to pull out all the stops to ensure its passage. TPA is a major stepping-stone toward their goal of establishing the FTAA by 2005.