The U.S. House of Representatives voted yesterday afternoon to approve Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with China. PNTR had become a fight in which the Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, and multinational corporations dumped an almost endless supply of money to assure passage. Because of this, there was more money spent on this fight than on any other issue ever brought before the House.

Rapid Response Teams around the country have done an unbelievable amount of work to defeat PNTR. Not only did steelworkers write 252,000 notes to these legislators, they also held candlelight vigils, organized prayer services with local ministers, camped out in front of their congresspersons offices, held mock wedding ceremonies between Uncle Sam and the communist government in China, made thousands of phone calls, met with their legislators at home, and conducted many other actions too numerous to mention. Your District Directors also pitched in with two days of visits to D.C. congressional offices in the last few days. But on this day, big money defeated the voice of the American conscience.