[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 156 (Saturday, November 8, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H10351]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         GLOBAL CORPORATE TRADE THREATENS NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, Congress is being asked to give away our 
national sovereignty in the name of global corporate trade. Fast track 
legislation furthers the role of the World Trade Organization, an 
intertribunal of unelected, unaccountable trade experts with the 
authority to overrule the U.S. Congress, to overrule our national, 
State, and local laws. The WTO can overrule laws which include job 
creation legislation, consumer health and safety protections, and 
environmental protections.
  The fast track vote is a vote on the preservation of our national 
sovereignty, our ability to determine our own destiny. Fast track is an 
assault on our American political traditions and foundations. It 
establishes the right of the citizenry to have democratically elected 
officials be able to make the laws here and the standards we live by.
  Fast track gives the World Trade Organization the right to overrule 
this Congress. We begin these sessions of Congress with the Pledge of 
Allegiance to the flag and to the country for which it stands. And if 
we are to remain one Nation, under God, indivisible, we must stand for 
liberty and justice and we must reject fast track.

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