· House members from both parties are working to preserve Congressional authority over trade agreements by opposing "Fast Track" trade authority.
· Despite widespread opposition – from members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, informed Americans and citizens and public officials from many of the negotiating partner nations – President Obama and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman continue to push forward with plans to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement – in secret – and force it through Congress with little debate and no amendments.
· After 20 plus rounds of negotiations between the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) remain inaccessible to anyone who does not make a living as a government or multinational corporate trade negotiator. These negotiations have been intentionally kept under wraps. Most incredible of all, the text of this proposed trade agreement – which will have an incalculable effect on the lives of hundreds of millions of people in a dozen countries and nearly half the world's economy – has been classified "secret."
· But leaks have given some idea of what is being discussed and it is troubling. Only five of the TPP's 29 chapters actually deal with trade issues, while the others set policies to which the U.S. government, from local city councils all the way to Congress, would be required to conform. This is a direct attack on our national sovereignty. A leading principle of our nation's laws is they are not subject to review by non-American institutions and observers. We do not cede American power to a higher authority. Yet the details in the leaked "Investment Chapter" make clear that TPP would undermine this bedrock American belief.
· TPP is a way for big businesses to carve out for themselves special favors across the Pacific related to regulation of energy, banking and financial services, food safety, procurement policy, patent and copyright policy, environmental standards and many other non-trade issues.
· It will be a direct attack on milling jobs in the Pacific Northwest, as logged forests would be sent directly overseas instead of being processed here, and it would attack our nation's call center workers by giving companies a greater financial incentive to send these jobs overseas.
· Despite these concerns and the complete lack of transparency throughout the process, TPP's backers want to "fast track" this agreement and prevent members of Congress from amending or changing any single provision. Given that the only voices shaping the TPP are government negotiators and corporate lobbyists, Congress should do the job we pay them to do and debate this mammoth trade bill openly through the normal process.
· With all of this in mind, it's clear that every American should confront TPP with a resounding "no." That's why it is crucial that our lawmakers in Congress take a clear stand for American jobs and commit to a full review of this trade pact. It is time for Congress to exercise its authority and reject the fast tracking of TPP.
· One reason is that today’s “trade” agreements include provisions allowing foreign corporations to skirt U.S. laws and courts and drag the U.S. government before foreign tribunals to demand compensation for laws the corporations think undermine their expected profits. Under past deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), more than $400 million has been paid out to corporations for toxics bans, land-use rules, regulatory permits, water and timber policies and more. Just under U.S. pacts, more than $14 billion remains pending in corporate claims against medicine patent policies, pollution clean ups, climate and energy laws, and other public interest safeguards.
· So it’s not surprising that NAFTA-style trade deals have grown increasingly unpopular across the political spectrum. From a conservative perspective, the problem is trade-pact-enabled raids on the U.S. Treasury via unaccountable foreign tribunals. These are new attacks on the policies needed to keep our families and the planet safe.
· Large corporations are pressuring Congress to give away its Constitutional authority over trade. They want Congress to agree to give the president “Fast Track” authority. Fast Track would allow a massive trade agreement with a dozen countries in the Asia Pacific to be signed before Congress voted on it. Under Fast Track the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement could be pushed through Congress quickly, with no amendments and limited debate.