The House of Representatives caved to big business last week by passing fast
track trade legislation.

Thanks to Congressman Leonard Boswell, the only Iowan in the House of
Representatives who voted against Fast Track.

Vote count
                            YEAS NAYS
REPUBLICAN     190     27
DEMOCRATIC     25   183
INDEPENDENT               2
TOTALS              215   212

July 29, 2002
Sierra Club Expresses Disappointment as House Approves Fast Track,
Threatening Environmental Protections

The Sierra Club expressed strong disappointment after the House of
Representatives narrowly approved dangerous trade legislation. By a
razor-thin margin of 215-212, and only after a rare lobbying visit to
Capitol Hill by President Bush, the House passed the fast track bill, which
will prevent Congress from fixing future trade deals, even when they
threaten the environment.

"Now more than ever, Americans want Congress to hold corporations
accountable, not give them more breaks," said Carl Pope, Executive Director
of the Sierra Club.  "The House's capitulation to powerful business
interests could jeopardize many of the environmental protections Americans
take for granted."

Fast track will allow the Bush administration to extend NAFTA across the
western hemisphere.  Provisions in NAFTA allow foreign corporations to sue
the U.S. government whenever they feel that our environmental protections
affect their profits.  Already, a Canadian chemical company has used NAFTA
to sue the US government for $1 billion, jeopardizing a vital California
clean water law.  Extending NAFTA would greatly increse the number of these
claims, and threaten crucial environmental and public health laws.

Rejecting fast track would not have limited our ability to enter
international trade agreements.  It simply would have allowed Congress to
weigh in on those agreements, to prevent them from running roughshod over
the environment.  That safeguard no longer exists.

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