not fast track

[MDOLAN <mdolan@citizen.org>]

  This is another issue we work on here at Public Citizen's Global Trade 
  Watch;
  and the following Action Alert, prepared by our colleague Simon Billeness
  in Boston, is worthy of your attention, though the notice is somewhat last 
  minute.
  
  
  ===================================================================
  TELL YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS TO DEFEND THE MASSACHUSETTS BURMA LAW FROM THE
  WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
  
  September 23, 1997
  
  A bipartisan group of US Representatives have moved an amendment in
  Congress that would help support state and local from action by the World
  Trade Organization.
  
  It is expected that the amendment will be moved AND voted on in Congress on
  Wednesday, September 24.
  
  SO PLEASE CALL ON TUESDAY AND EARLY WEDNESDAY!
  
  BACKGROUND
  
  Six Members of Congress (Sanders, Rohrabacher, Stearns, Defazio, Ney, Brown
  and Dellums) plan to move an amendment to Commerce-State-Justice
  Appropriations Bill that would help defend state and local laws from the
  World Trade Organization.
  
  The amendment cuts $1 million from the US Commerce Department budget. The
  amendment reallocates the $1 million to the US Trade Representative's
  office (USTR) "for the express purpose of better equipping [the USTR] to
  identify and defend current national, state, local, tribal, territorial or
  DC laws adversely affected by international trade and investment
  agreements."
  
  Already, the USTR has stood idle while the World Trade Organization has
  successfully pressured the US to weaken its Clean Air Rules and its Dolphin
  Protection Laws.
  
  This amendment puts additional explicit pressure on the USTR to defend the
  Massachusetts Burma selective purchasing law from the challenge by the
  European Commission and the Japanese government at the World Trade
  Organization. Modeled on a previous South Africa anti-apartheid law, the
  Massachusetts Burma law effectively bars state agencies from buying goods
  or services from companies that do business in Burma.
  
  If this amendment is successfully attached to the Appropriations bill in
  the House of Representatives, the action will move to the Senate where, it
  is hoped, a similar amendment will be moved.
  
  WHAT TO DO
  
  1. Call your US Representative at (888) 723-5246 (toll-free) or (202)
  224-3121.
  [Consider calling all your of your state's Congressional delegation on
  behalf of your local Free Burma group if you think it is appropriate.]
  
  2. Ask for the Congressional aide responsible for trade and/or foreign
  policy
  
  3. Ask the aide to ensure that the Member supports the
  Sanders-Rohrabacher-DeFazio-Ney-Brown-Dellums amendment to the
  Commerce-State-Justice Appropriations Bill (HR2267)
  
  4. Explain that the bill transfers $1 million to the office of the US Trade
  Representative to identify and defend state and local laws threatened by
  the World Trade Organization
  
  5. Explain that you wish to defend US national, state and local democracy
  from pressure from the World Trade Organization
  
  6. Be prepared to give your name, address and phone number proving that you
  live in the Congressman's or Congresswoman's district
  
  And most importantly
  
  7. Even if you obtain a commitment of support, call EVERY DAY to discover
  if the amendment came to a vote that day and how the Representative voted
  on it
  
  THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!
  
  Email me and let me know how your Members of Congress responded.  I will
  report back on the results of the vote and what we can do next.
  
  Simon Billenness
  * for the New England Burma Roundtable *
  Franklin Research & Development
  711 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, MA 02111
  (617) 423-6655 x 225
  (617) 482 6179 fax
  sbillenness@frdc.com
  =========================================
  ===== Comments by MDOLAN@CITIZEN (MDOLAN) at 9/23/97 3:44 pm
  
  
  
  ****************************************************************************
   /s/ Mike Dolan, Field Director, Global Trade Watch, Public Citizen
  
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                         WE DON'T ORGANIZE PEOPLE IN ORDER TO EDUCATE THEM.
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