President Obama says the
U.S. and the world’s largest Muslim country will merge their economies under an
agreement whose terms have not been disclosed to Congress or the public.
After Obama met with
Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the White House Monday, Widodo said, “Indonesia intends to join the TPP,” referring
to the TransPacific Partnership.
Indonesia is the most
populous Muslim nation in the world with 250 million people. Obama attended elementary
school in the country.
“I have a very personal
interest in Indonesia given the fact that I spent time there as a child and
have relatives who are Indonesian,” Obama said.
The TPP is a sweeping
global regulatory pact. It establishes an international authority that will
write rules for merging the U.S. economy with other countries in the
partnership.
The administration
reached an agreement on the TPP with 11 countries on four continents after
negotiations that lasted more than five years. Indonesia was not involved in
the negotiations.
But neither Congress nor
the public have been allowed to see the final agreement the administration has
negotiated. The president has not released the text of the agreement or the
numerous side agreements attached to the TPP.
The administration
describes the TPP as a “living agreement” that will be updated and which other
countries can join in the future.
China, South Korea, the
Philippines and Taiwan also have expressed interest in joining the TPP economic
union.
But it appears the U.S.
Congress will not have any say in the matter.
Earlier this year,
Congress granted the president “fast track” trade promotion authority to
negotiate the TPP and surrendered its ability to change whatever agreement the
president proposes.
An amendment to the fast
track bill would have required congressional approval before China could join
the TPP. But the amendment, opposed by GOP leadership and the president, was
defeated.
The unilateral move by
the president to bring Indonesia into the TPP confirms charges by Sen. Jeff
Sessions, R-Ala., that Congress will have no role in approving changes as the
partnership grows.
Sessions read the draft
of the TPP agreement earlier this year and described it as “a nascent European
Union.”
Like the European Union,
the Transpacific Partnership calls for the free flow of people, goods and
capital among member countries.
“It’s going to put us in
an international commission that allows the sultan of Brunei to have the same
vote as the president of the United States,” Sessions said.
Sessions is referring to
the TransPacific Partnership Commission, a governing authority created under
the agreement, similar to the European Commission that oversees the European
Union.
This shadowy
trans-Pacific body would have vast regulatory powers the details of which the
president has refused to disclose to either Congress or the public.
But it appears the president
has revealed details to Indonesia and other countries it hopes to enlist in the
pact.
While Obama refuses to
show the public the TPP agreement, the president and his surrogates are out
selling the pact with a series of speeches and op-eds.
Poll after poll shows
the majority of Americans across the political spectrum oppose the TPP.
All the leading
presidential candidates, including Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Hillary Clinton
and Bernie Sanders, oppose the agreement.
Politico reports
Republican leaders in the House and Senate want to vote on the TransPacific
Partnership in a lame-duck session of Congress after the November 2016 general
election.
“If it’s such a good
deal, then why do they want to keep the American people from having an
influence on it?” Sessions
asked. “Why don’t they bring
it up during the election [campaign] so people can vote and evaluate their
representatives on how they vote?” Workers in Indonesia earn as little $2.50 a day.
http://www.wnd.com/2015/10/obama-in-secret-pact-with-worlds-largest-muslim-country/
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