[Peace-discuss] FW: Senator Reads the TPP and Exposes Its Contents; Other Elected Officials Should Do the Same

Tue May 19 07:41:52 EDT 2015

Why didn't any Democratic Senators do this ?

Alabama Republican Jeff Sessions of all people !

Senator Reads the TPP and Exposes Its Contents; Other Elected Officials
Should Do the Same 

Monday, 18 May 2015 00:00 By Kevin Zeese
<http://www.truth-out.org/author/itemlist/user/44743> , Popular Resistance
<https://www.popularresistance.org/sen-sessions-takes-a-bold-step-tells-the-
truth-about-tpp/>  | Op-Ed

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/30848-senator-sessions-takes-a-bold-st
ep-tells-the-truth-about-the-tpp

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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
<http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/05/03/critical-alert-jeff-sess
ions-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
<http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/05/07/only-two-republicans-adm
it-they-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
<https://www.popularresistance.org/us-trade-rep-threatens-congress-with-pros
ecution/>  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.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/opinion/obamas-covert-trade-deal.html> "
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
<http://cnsnews.com/blog/terence-p-jeffrey/boehner-broke-pledge-give-america
ns-least-72-hours-read-every-bill> , 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
<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-09/obama-calls-warren-absolu
tely-wrong-on-trade-opposition>  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
<https://www.popularresistance.org/warren-tells-obama-to-put-up-or-shut-up-o
n-trade/>  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
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/09/business/nike-to-create-jobs-if-trans-pac
ific-partnership-is-approved.html> : "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
<http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/volcker-rule-in-bank-reforms-violates-nafta
-joe-oliver-argues-1.3072466>  by claiming that banking regulation that
requires banks to invest with only their own money violates NAFTA.
The president has claimed
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/09/business/nike-to-create-jobs-if-trans-pac
ific-partnership-is-approved.html>  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
<https://www.popularresistance.org/environmental-tpp-chapter-leaked-weaker-t
han-previous-agreements/>  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
<https://www.popularresistance.org/us-push-on-intellectual-property-in-tpp-v
iolates-international-norms/> , 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
<http://www.nationaljournal.com/white-house/obama-compares-progressive-oppos
ition-to-trade-deal-to-death-panels-as-the-left-ramps-up-opposition-20150424
>  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
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/us/politics/obama-calls-elizabeth-warren-
absolutely-wrong-on-trans-pacific-trade-deal.html>  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.

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