More importantly, however, is the following vote, scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday, on „Trade Adjustment Assistance,“ (TAA), also known as the „We sent your job to a Pacific Rim sweatshop in a country with no labor laws where people work for $2 a day during 18-hour shifts making the clothes you used to be able to afford before we laid you off, so here‘s ten dollars so you can take in a movie and get your mind off things, but no popcorn for you“ bill.

In other words, TAA is a bill to provide „assistance“ for all the people who are absolutely going to lose their jobs if the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement (TPP) passes … and the passage of that trade bill is what all this TPA and TAA mishigas has been about.