WASHINGTON, May 12 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement today after the Senate rejected a motion to take up the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement:

“The Senate vote today was an important first victory in what will be a long battle.

“A major reason for the decline of the American middle class and the increase in wealth and income inequality in the United State is our trade policies – NAFTA, CAFTA and Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China.  This agreement would follow in the footsteps of those free trade agreements which have forced American workers to compete against desperate and low-wage workers around the world – including workers in Vietnam where the minimum wage is 56-cents an hour.

“Trade agreements should not just work for corporate America, Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry. They have got to benefit the working families of our country.

“We must defeat fast track and develop a new policy on trade. Today was a good step forward, but much more needs to be done.”