Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is one of the few members
of Congress who has taken the time to jump through the hoops and read the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But, he has gone a step farther than other
members — he told members of Congress what he read. He told the truth about
what the TPP says and why Congress should oppose it in a five page letter to
his colleagues.
Sessions’ action flies in the face of the threats made by
the US Trade Representative to prosecute elected officials who tell people
what is in the trade agreement. Others should follow his example and get
out the truth about the TPP.
The debate in the Senate begins on Tuesday, May 19. This
is an opportunity for Senators to tell their colleagues the truth about
what is in the TPP. Sessions’ “Dear Colleague” letter was leaked and
reported in Breitbart. Senators from both parties may want to take a
similar approach. Even better, during the debate on the Senate floor there
will be an opportunity for amendments that expose problems with the TPP.
Senators can tell their colleagues and, through C-SPAN, their constituents
the truth about what is in the TPP.
How Senator Sessions Exposed
the Truth About TPP
Breitbart has written two articles on Sessions’ revelations.
In “Critical
Alert: Jeff Sessions Warns America Against Potentially Disastrous Obama
Trade Deal,” they report:
“‘Congress has the responsibility to ensure that any
international trade agreement entered into by the United States must serve
the national interest, not merely the interests of those crafting the proposal
in secret,’ Sessions’ team writes in a document that lays out the top five
concerns with the Obama trade deal. ‘It must improve the quality of life, the
earnings, and the per-capita wealth of everyday working Americans. The sustained
long-term loss of middle class jobs and incomes should compel all lawmakers
to apply added scrutiny to a ‘fast-track’ procedure wherein Congress would
yield its legislative powers and allow the White House to implement one of
largest global financial agreements in our history — comprising at least
12 nations and nearly 40 percent of the world’s GDP.’ …
“The Sessions document then goes point-by-point for five
full pages through the TPA trade deal, laying out why it wouldn’t help Americans
— rather, it would likely hurt American workers — and why the deal doesn’t
in fact provide Congress with more power over trade despite talking points
from the Obama trade deal’s proponents …”
The second article in Breitbart, “Only
Two Republicans Admit They Have Actually Read Secret Obama Trade Deal — Both
Unsupportive” reports on a survey they did of
Senate Republicans where they asked three questions: (1) Have you read the
TPP, specifically the ‘living agreement’ in the trade deal that allows the
deal to be changed and countries added without congressional review? (2)
Does the Senator agree with Sen. Sessions’ call to make the TPP available
to the public? And, (3) Will the Senator vote for fast track Trade Promotion
Authority (TPA) if the TPP hasn’t been stripped of the ‘living agreement’
section that would allow countries to amend the deal without Congressional
approval, and to even add countries (like China, if they wanted to) to the
deal without Congressional approval?
Breitbart reports that one additional Senator, James
Lankford (R-OK) was scheduled to read the TPP on Friday, May 16. Interestingly,
the Oklahoma legislature recently passed a resolution urging their federal
representatives to vote against fast track trade authority.
While the US
Trade Representative has threatened members of Congress with criminal
prosecution for telling others what is in the
TPP, they have made no threat to Senator Sessions. No doubt if they did so,
fast track and the TPP would be dead because the years of work by the Obama
administration to move this forward in secret would be over, and as the
first trade representative in the Obama administration, Ambassador Ron
Kirk, told the media “if
the American people knew what was in this agreement it would never become
law.”
The Truth About Trade Is Needed
Right Now
We are in the critical phase of debate about the Trans-Pacific
Partnership and other rigged corporate trade agreements. While
Speaker of the House, John
Boehner (R-OH) has promised to publish all bills before they are voted on, he has not even read the TPP and definitely has not
required it be made public. While the fast track bill can be read, the
TPP is different; elected officials have limited access to it and they are
not allowed to discuss what they read. So, the Congress is tying its
hands on the TPP and other deals, without knowing what is in them and thereby
shirking their constitutional responsibility under the Commerce Clause
which directs Congress “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations.”
Now, it becomes even more important because President
Obama has repeatedly
chided members of Congress for being inaccurate about what is in the TPP, even comparing Senator Elizabeth
Warren (D-MA) to Sarah Palin talking about death panels. He makes the
claim that Congress does not know what it is talking about while keeping the
agreement secret and difficult for elected officials and their staff to
read. On top of that Obama and his administration consistently put out false
and misleading statements
about the agreement. One wonders, and I hope the media begins to ask
him, whether President Obama has read the agreement? As Rep.
Louise Slaughter (D-NY) said in response:
“We know exactly what we’re talking about. My concern is that he does not
understand what’s in it.”
Obama criticized Warren for claiming that the TPP would
undermine federal regulation of banks. If the language of the TPP were
released we could see if he is accurate. But, after their argument on this
issue, Canadian
Finance Minister, Joe Oliver, bolstered Warren’s position by claiming that banking regulation that requires
banks to invest with only their own money violates NAFTA.
The president
has claimed that his deals are the most progressive
trade agreements ever and fix the problems of NAFTA “by making labor and
environmental provisions actually enforceable.” Yet, a leak
of the environmental chapter
actually shows the opposite — there is no environmental enforcement and
the protections are weaker than agreements during the George W.
Bush era.
The president also makes the claim that “no trade agreement
is going to force us to change our laws.” This is an outrageous claim because
all previous trade agreements have required the US to harmonize its laws
with the agreement. How can they not? The TPP, according
to leaks, changes laws around patents and
trademarks. How can the TPP say one thing about intellectual property and
US law say another? They must be harmonized. Elected officials who have read
the text can explain differences between US law and the TPP — what laws will
have to change? For example will popular laws favoring buying American
products survive the TPP? The Finance Committee refused to approve an amendment
that would protect Buy America.
Certainly President Obama knows that his Organizing
For America is being completely misleading when in an email: “argued that the term ‘fast track’ for
TPA was a misnomer because TPA would have to go through Congress like any
other bill.” OFA and Obama know the debate is not whether fast track has to go
through Congress in the normal fashion but whether trade agreements will be
fast tracked. Why would the president and OFA be so obviously misleading?
Are they desperate?
Ralph
Nader has suggested that President Obama debate Senator
Warren on the TPP. This would be one way to get to the truth, hear both sides
debate in public so we can all decide for ourselves whether this is an agreement
that should be fast tracked through Congress outside of the traditional congressional
process. But a president that has worked for his entire tenure in office to
keep the TPP and other rigged agreements out of the public dialogue will certainly
not take up this suggestion.
Congress Is in Position to
Expose the TPP
Now, at this key moment in the debate, members of Congress
who have taken the time to view the TPP are in a position to get out
the truth.
The debate in the Senate with its open amendment process
is an opportunity to tell the truth about all the issues in the TPP so there
can finally be a public debate about trade agreements that will impact every
aspect of our lives.
In the House, Republicans should be sharing the comments
of Senator Sessions for a solid Republican critique of fast track for the
TPP and other agreements. Democrats should be highlighting key senate
amendments to their caucus to highlight shortcomings. And those who
have read the TPP should share what they learned in order to strengthen opposition
to fast track in the face of what will be a massive Obama effort to change
their minds.
Those who oppose the TPP have the tools needed to win this
debate, stop fast track and stop the TPP and other rigged agreements. If we
succeed, we will have the opportunity to rethink global trade in light of
two decades of experience with a failed model. It will be an opportunity to
develop trade so that it protects the planet and raises the standard of living
for people around the world. To achieve that opportunity, the first task is
to expose the truth of what is before us.
Copyright, Truthout.org. Reprinted with permission - http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/30848-senator-sessions-takes-a-bold-step-tells-the-truth-about-the-tpp#14325792172351&action=collapse_widget&id=0&data=
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Filed Under: Climate Change, Corporatism/Fascism, Federalism/State Sovereignty, Free Market Economics, New World Order, Property Rights, Tradehttp://agenda21news.com/2015/05/senator-reads-the-tpp-and-exposes-its-contents-other-elected-officials-should-do-the-same/#more-5907
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