Maine Senate Tells Congress: No More Fast Track

This week, the Maine Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling on Congress and President Bush to bury Fast Track once and for all, and replace it with a "more democratic and inclusive mechanism that entails meaningful consultation with states."

It's nice to see the state senate send this kind of message to the Maine congressional delegation, particularly to Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who sits on the Finance committee, which oversees trade policy.  That state legislators are slowly coming to realize that trade agreements no longer are limited to matters of federal jurisdiction, but instead have become a sneaky backdoor form of international preemption, could play a key role in the debate.

What's more, Maine's not the only state where state legislators are asking Congress to nix Fast Track and create a U.S. trade policy that actually benefits both trading partners and doesn't sacrifice democracy at the state and local level. Similar resolutions to Congress have been introduced in at least 15 states. The question remains – will Congress listen?