NYSARA Actions

September 06, 2015

US Representative Rice and her position on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) issue

June 17, 2015

 

United States Representative Kathleen Rice

DISTRICT OFFICE

300 Garden City Plaza

Suite 200

Garden City, NY 11530

 

Dear Representative Rice,

I write to you on the issues of the Trans Pacific Partnership, Fast Track and the TAA. I represent 440,000 Retired and Senior Citizens in New York State of whom almost 31,000 live in your district.

The New York State Alliance for Retired Americans urges you to vote no on a stand alone Fast Track/TPA bill that reportedly will be attached to a firefighter pension bill that is to be considered on Thursday June 18. If passed this would mean that Fast Track Authority would be given without a guarantee that workers displaced by this trade pact would be able to access retraining. We know that this is in conflict with your previous positions. Knowing that the TAA authorization was soundly defeated last week and that Senate bill linked the passage of both TPA and TAA to advancing fast track authorization to the President’s desk a yes vote on this stand alone bill is a vote to not help workers who lose their job because of the trade deal and is also a vote to Fast Track higher drug prices for retirees and seniors on Medicare.

Further, A TAA bill without the $950 million in Medicare cuts MUST be passed in both the Senate and the House BEFORE any vote on Fast Track Authority. In spite of the pressures that you may be subject to you must stand with seniors to defeat these efforts to raid the Medicare trust fund and raise drug prices of retirees and seniors on Medicare.

Sincerely Yours,

Barry A. Kaufmann

President, New York State Alliance for Retired Americans