Vote No on TPP

No Way Congress! No TPP Approval in Lame-duck Session

As almost everyone knows by now, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). And, many of you also know that Clinton's opposition is subject to change after the November 8 election.

However, whether Trump or Clinton wins the election, the best time for the establishment elites to win congressional approval for their jobs- and sovereignty-destroying TPP scheme is during the lame-duck session of Congress beginning on November 14.

The U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman told CNBC on November 1: If they [House and Senate leaders] bring it [the TPP] forward, I think we can get the votes there.

Meanwhile, Breitbart reported on November 1: "A recent blockbuster POLITICO Pro-Harvard poll found that among those who have heard of the TPP, 63% oppose it and 68% think 'it should not be voted on until the new Congress comes into office after the lame-duck session.'"

It's no accident that two other crucially important trade bills, the Trade Act of 1974 (first law that established fast-track rules for trade deals) and the Uruguay Round agreement (established the World Trade Organization) passed in lame-duck sessions in 1974 and 1994, respectively. Such dangerous bills can be passed during lame-duck sessions because they are times of minimal accountability to the voters.

First of all, many of those attending a lame-duck session have already retired or been defeated. They're not going to be very concerned about what the voters back home will think of their votes. Secondly, even those congressmen who will still be serving in the next Congress won't have to worry much about what their constituents think, because all of the representatives and one third of the senators won't stand for election again for nearly two years, and the other two thirds of the senators won't face the voters again for either four or six years.

Lame-duck sessions should not be held at all except for true national emergencies, and then only to take appropriate action for such emergencies. A vote on approving something as important as a trade deal should never be held during a minimal-accountability-to-the-voters lame-duck session. Such trade agreements should be either voted on before the two-year elections or after the new Congress is seated in January following the elections.

Please phone the DC offices (House: 202-225-3121 and Senate: 202-224-3121) and local offices of your representative and senators now in opposition to approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership during the lame-duck session. Tell them they must vote no on this EU-like, jobs- and sovereignty-destroying, regional government scheme.

Also, please email your representative and senators with the same message. Get others in your sphere of influence to do likewise. We must stop the TPP, and thereby save our national independence and the security for our God-given rights!

Thanks. Your Friends at The John Birch Society