afl-cio Archives - Just Foreign Policy

Tell your member of Congress to support Keith Ellison’s #NoTPP fair trade policies!

January 26, 2017

On January 23, the US announced that it was withdrawing from the anti-democratic, anti-worker Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement [TPP] and seeking a reopening of the North American Free Trade Agreement [NAFTA]. The AFL-CIO praised the moves, saying, “Today’s announcement that the US is withdrawing from TPP and seeking a reopening of NAFTA is an important first…

Commentary

Shortening the War Would Pay for Half of the Payroll Tax Holiday

November 29, 2011

Shortening the war in Afghanistan by two years could easily pay half of the costs of an extension and expansion of the payroll tax holiday, the centerpiece of President Obama’s jobs bill. Thus, the amendment put forward by Senator Merkley calling on the President to accelerate the drawdown in Afghanistan – which the Senate may…

Commentary

Dancing on the Super Committee’s Grave, Singing Halleluyah

November 23, 2011

The spectacle of Democrats and Republicans arguing about who is to "blame" for the "failure" of the "Supercommittee" is certainly tempting for many partisans. But any progressive who participates in the spectacle risks attacking their own interests to the degree that they promote the implicit assumption that the public interest would have been better served…

Commentary

Will House Dems Oppose a Jobless War Supplemental?

July 23, 2010

The war supplemental for Afghanistan is expected to come back from the Senate to the House next week – without any kind of timetable for military withdrawal from Afghanistan, and without money to save teachers’ jobs attached. AP reports: In a take-it-or-leave-it gesture, the Senate voted Thursday night to reject more than $20 billion…

Commentary

Could Congress Block Antiworker IMF “Bailouts” in Europe?

May 14, 2010

Republicans in Congress are trying to block the U.S. Treasury Department from supporting U.S. tax funded International Monetary Fund contributions to the so-called "bailouts" in Europe, which, as economist Mark Weisbrot explains, aren’t bailouts for working families at all – for working families, the IMF programs guarantee extreme hardship, and most Europeans would be much…

Commentary

A Year of War Would Pay for Local Jobs Bill

April 23, 2010

Sometime between now and Memorial Day, the House is expected to consider $33 billion more for war in Afghanistan. This "war supplemental" is largely intended to plug the hole in Afghanistan war spending for the current fiscal year caused by the ongoing addition of 30,000 troops in Afghanistan, whose purpose is largely to conduct a…

Commentary

Will the National Democratic Institute Support the Coup in Honduras?

November 20, 2009

A statement put out by Senator Lugar’s office this week contained a striking revelation: apparently, the State Department intends to fund election observer missions of the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute for the controversial November 29 Honduras election supervised by the coup regime. If the US sends election observers before President Zelaya…

Commentary

With IMF Money, the War Supplemental Could Fail in the House

June 4, 2009

Last month, 60 Members of the House of Representatives, including 51 Democrats, voted against the war supplemental for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. But this week, when the House is expected to consider the agreement of a House-Senate conference on the war funding, the supplemental could well be defeated on the floor of the House –…

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