Latest Action 10/8/15: Tell Congress to Reject TPP
Call the Capitol switchboard 202-224-3121 to reach your U.S. Legislators
Sign the FAX petition and send your own comments to your U.S. legislators.
 Sign Petition Now Tell your U.S. legislators to vote NO on any bill that would grant Fast Track authority for the TPP and other trade agreements! |
Help stop the latest push for “Fast Track” legislation. This type of legislation would enable corporate power grabs–like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement–to be rushed through Congress without the normal procedures for amendments and debate.
President Obama and other heads of state are meeting in Asia this month [November 2014] in an attempt to advance the TPP negotiations. The public has been shut out of the TPP negotiating process, while hundreds of corporate lobbyists–representing companies such as Walmart, Cargill and Monsanto–have had access to the texts. This double standard has assured that the TPP has been written in corporations’ interests, with little regard for farmers or working families.
The public deserves the right to know what is being proposed in our names for an international agreement that could set the rules in our country not only for tariffs–but also for food safety, “Buy Local” preferences, energy and environmental policy, financial regulations, Internet protocols, consumer labeling and more.
The big corporations know that if these trade agreements are subject to an open debate in Congress, they almost certainly can’t pass. So they want Congress to give up its constitutional authority and basically hand President Obama (and whoever follows him) a blank check to make the agreements.
They are calling for “Fast Track” to be passed during the post-election “Lame Duck” session of Congress, when political accountability to constituents is often at its lowest. Fast Track is an extreme procedure that was used in the past to push through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and other devastating deals that would not otherwise pass under normal democratic procedures. We’ve seen the results, and they aren’t pretty!
The vote on Fast Track authority for the TPP trade agreement could come at any time. Whether it is called “Fast Track” or “Smart Track”, if the bill does not contain enforceable limitations that include the ability for Congress to debate the specific terms of a trade agreement, it’s the wrong road for the United States.
Stop the Fast Track
What Is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Trade Agreement?
International courts, acting at the request of private corporations, overturning the laws adopted by your elected officials. Does that sound like a good idea to you? Scarily, if the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement goes through, you’ll see a lot more of this.
 Read WikiLeaks 10/16/14 Press Release [cartoon: WikiLeaks] |
The TPP is a new so-called “free trade” agreement being negotiated between the U.S. and a dozen other Pacific Rim countries. But the reality is that the TPP is a permanent power grab by corporations that will make it impossible for the citizens of the TPP countries, including American citizens, to decide what laws and rules they want to live under. For instance, the TPP would disable the government’s ability to regulate things like GMOs, pesticides, and food additives and would increase corporate control on the global food supply.
The secretive talks are in their 14th round, having begun under George W. Bush in 2008. Little of the document being negotiated has been made publicly available, but what we do know is disturbing. The TPP would go well beyond NAFTA in tearing down domestic laws of all kinds, from food to financial services. American manufacturers and farmers would suffer, while Wall Street banks would reap huge profits and companies would move more operations offshore.
As the TPP nears completion, President Obama is also pushing a separate trade agreement with the European Union that includes very similar provisions. President Obama doesn’t want Americans to look too closely at the details of these deals. He is seeking “fast track authority” for the negotiations, meaning that he, and whoever comes after him, would be able to negotiate as desired without oversight by Congress.
The vote on Fast Track authority for the TPP trade agreement could come at any time.
Please speak up now!
Tell your elected officials that you want them to do their job and not abandon legislative authority to the executive branch. Demand that they take a good, hard look at the TPP–not simply give President Obama a blank check to negotiate away our domestic laws.
Fast track legislation could be tacked to any bill; so, we’re asking Congress to vote NO on any such bill that has been or could be introduced in the future.
The original bill to “fast track” the TPP and other trade agreements filed by Representative Camp (R-MI) and Senator Baucus (D-MT) was S1900 and HR3830, referred to as the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities Act of 2014. A different bill is likely to be introduced with similar content or may refer to “Smart Track” instead.
Follow TPP Fast Track developments on Facebook via #StopFastTrack and CitizensTrade.org that promoted a week of awareness.
UPDATE 4/22/15: Draft TPP documents courtesy WikiLeaks
Read the leaked TPP draft documents at WikiLeaks.com:
- Intellectual Property Rights – “perhaps the most controversial chapter of the TPP due to its wide-ranging effects on medicines, publishers, internet services, civil liberties and biological patents.”https://wikileaks.org/tpp[click here to view the 8/30/2013 chapter draft] Also leaked on 10/16/14 was an updated draft from May 2014.
- Environment Chapter – “Environment Chapter is noteworthy for its absence of mandated clauses or meaningful enforcement measures. The dispute settlement mechanisms it creates are cooperative instead of binding; there are no required penalties and no proposed criminal sanctions. With the exception of fisheries, trade in ‘environmental’ goods and the disputed inclusion of other multilateral agreements, the Chapter appears to function as a public relations exercise.” — https://wikileaks.org/tpp-enviro/pressrelease.html [click here to view the November 2013 chapter draft, leaked on 1/15/2014]
- Investment Chapter – “The TPP has developed in secret an unaccountable supranational court for multinationals to sue states. This system is a challenge to parliamentary and judicial sovereignty. Similar tribunals have already been shown to chill the adoption of sane environmental protection, public health and public transport policies.” — https://wikileaks.org/tpp-investment/press.html[click here to view the 1/20/2015 chapter draft, leaked on 3/25/2015]
TAKE ACTION #1 – CALL YOUR U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Our best chance to stop the Fast Track is in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Please follow up your message sent via the FAX Petition with a call or e-mail to your U.S. Representative. You can find out who represents you at www.house.gov or by calling the Capital Switchboard at 202-224-3121.
- Sample script:
- My name is ___ and I am a constituent. I am calling to urge Representative ____ to vote NO on any bill that would grant Fast Track authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other trade agreements.
TAKE ACTION #2 – CALL YOUR U.S. SENATORS
Please follow up your message sent via the FAX Petition by contacting both of your U.S. Senators and urge them to oppose Fast Track authority for the TPP and other trade agreements.
You can find out who represents you at www.senate.gov or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.
- Sample script:
- My name is ___ and I am a constituent. I am calling to urge Senator ____ to vote NO on any bill that would grant Fast Track authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other trade agreements.
SAMPLE MESSAGE
Follow up your message sent via the FAX Petition by phone or email.
If you send an email, please be sure to personalize your message! Add a couple of sentences at the beginning about who you are and why these issues matter to you–it will make a much bigger impact.
SAMPLE MESSAGE for emails:
- My name is ___ and I am a constituent. I urge you to vote NO on any bill that would grant Fast Track authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other trade agreements.
Both the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the U.S./EU Free Trade Agreement will harm American workers and consumers.
A true free trade agreement would remove trade barriers such as tariffs and quotas–and it would stop there. But these agreements go far beyond free trade, and they would undermine our domestic laws. The deals will increase the flow of dangerous fish imports from Southeast Asia, lower our consumer product and food safety standards, increase exports of natural gas to Japan, and undermine financial regulations.
Fast Track authority leaves the decisions on these agreements in the President’s hands alone. That’s not how Congress is supposed to work. And whether it is called Fast Track or Smart Track, if the bill does not contain enforceable limitations that include the ability for Congress to debate the specific terms of a trade agreement, it’s the wrong road for the United States.
I urge you to vote NO on Fast Track authority for trade agreements, in order to keep the proper checks and balances in our system.
Your Full Name
Your City, State [so the legislator can verify you are a constituent]
UPDATE: FAST TRACK STILL LURKS
UPDATE 6/22/15: LATEST ACTIONFast Track Ping Pong – The Senate to vote on amended HR 2146 this week
Good news: On Friday 6/12, the House halted H.R. 1314, the Trade Act of 2015 which includes Fast Track authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Bad news: The House is slated to vote again on Tuesday 6/16 on the Title II of H.R. 1314 (the TAA), the portion that failed to pass on Friday.
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Here’s what happened: H.R. 1314 was originally a tax exemption bill passed by the House; the Senate gutted it and replaced it with the “Trade Act of 2015”. On Friday, the House decided to vote on the two parts of this revised bill separately. The first vote rejected an inadequately-funded and exclusionary Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program for displaced workers. The second vote was on the Fast Track process itself, called Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). Both parts needed to pass for the bill to pass. The TPA was approved [219 to 211], but the TAA was not [126 to 302] – killing the bill, at least for a moment.
House Speaker Boehner called for a re-vote on TAA, which will happen early this week. The Obama Administration, the GOP leadership, and large corporations are frantically making deals and lobbying House members to change their vote.So we must keep the pressure on!
Even if you have called before, please call today or tomorrow and urge your U.S. Representative to vote NO when TAA comes back to the floor. A job retraining program is not a good reason to rubber-stamp massive trade agreements that will cause those job losses in the first place! As if that weren’t bad enough, the TAA program excludes public sector workers whose jobs are offshored. It’s not even fully funded, and much of it funding comes from cuts to Medicare.
Call your Representative today at 888-804-8311 and urge him or her to vote NO on the TAA and Fast Track (TPA) this week. Follow up with a written message using the online FAX petition.
The Fast Track authority contained in the Trade Act of 2015 would allow dangerous trade agreements like the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) to be rushed through Congress, circumventing ordinary review, amendment and debate procedures. It is a virtual rubber-stamp for trade deals that threaten our economy, our environment, and our sovereignty.
Like all past trade deals, the TPP would send American jobs overseas where work can be done cheaply and under weak environmental oversight. It’s even worse than previous agreements because it also includes a key provision that would allow foreign companies to sue the U.S. over laws that they claim would hurt their profits — like Buy Local preferences or labeling GMOs. Federal, state and local laws could be struck down by international courts in the name of corporate profits!
With Fast Track, Congress is being asked to green light a trade deal that the public hasn’t even been allowed to read.
Please help us protect our economy and our sovereignty!
Sample Message for Calls
- My name is ___ and I am a constituent. I am calling to urge my Representative to vote NO on both the TAA and the Fast Track TPA. Fast tracking trade agreements will harm American workers and consumers, and undermine our sovereignty.
Tracking Your Legislators
You can also look up who represents you and find a link to their website at http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
You can see how your Representative voted on Fast Track (the TPA) last Friday here: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2015/roll362.xml
You can see how your Representative voted on Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) last Friday here: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2015/roll361.xml
If your Representative voted no on these provisions, be sure to thank him or her!!
Call your Representative today at 888-804-8311 and urge him or her to vote NO on the TAA and Fast Track (TPA) this week. Follow up with a written message using the online FAX petition.
6/14/15 – The FAX petition for U.S. Representatives reads:
Vote NO on H.R. 1314, Trade Act of 2015. I urge you to vote NO on any bill that would grant Fast Track authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other trade agreements. Keep the proper checks and balances in our system. The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program is not a good reason to rubber-stamp massive trade agreements that will cause those job losses in the first place!
Last Updated: 10/8/15 [5289] – TPP Heads to Congress
6/22/15 [4343] – HR 2146, New Cloak for fast tracking TPP
Fast Track Ping Pong – The Senate to vote on amended HR 2146 this week
6/14/2015 [3670] – Fast Track Still Lurks: The House votes again this week on the Trade Act of 2015 (HR 1314)