Book excerpt: Fast track is an expedited procedure for Congressional consideration of trade agreements. It requires Congress to vote on an agreement without reopening any of its provisions while retaining the ultimate power of voting it up or down. Fast Track facilitated controversial pacts such as NAFTA and the World Trade Organization, which extend beyond traditional tariff-cutting to set constraints on domestic financial, energy, patents and copyright, food safety, immigration, and other policies. Because Fast Track's dramatic shift in the balance of powers between branches of government occurred via an arcane procedural mechanism, it obtained little scrutiny - until recently. This book explains how large multi-national corporations have gotten their way to the detriment of the people by ignoring local environmental and labor laws. The Trans-Pacific-Trade Partnership has been called "NAFTA on steroids."