As White House Makes Final Push On TPP, Congress Slams On The Brakes

 

 

 

 

” Things are heating up around the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, the trade agreement among many of the Pacific Rim countries that has tremendous problems. The US has been pushing very, very hard to get the deal signed and delivered by the end of the year. US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced that he still believes an agreement can be made by the end of the year.”

 

     As the Obama administration tries to do an end run around Congress to rush this secret agreement through before the end of the year some in Washington have made known that they are not happy with being kept in the dark and are unwilling to give up their treaty approval authority and they have vowed to fight back .

 

 

” Of course, there are a number of indications that with some of the massive gaps between negotiating positions that still remain that it may be difficult to hammer out an agreement in time. But… it also might not matter much, because Congress may be slamming the brakes on the whole process. We just noted that a very large number of folks in Congress have told the White House that they’re very uncomfortable giving the USTR “trade promotion authority” or “fast track authority,” which would effectively have Congress giving up its Constitutionally defined role as the sole governmental branch that can “regulate commerce with foreign nations.” 

 

 

 

” In effect, without trade promotion authority, the USTR is negotiating without any real mandate. That is, the agreement itself is somewhat meaningless, because the USTR has no ability to commit the US to anything. Only Congress can do that, and it appears Congress is skeptical about giving up its Constitutional powers to the USTR — and, given what’s been seen in the leaked versions of the TPP (oh yeah, and the very fact that it had to be leaked in the first place) — it seems Congress has some very good reasons to be wary of the USTR having any more power than it currently does.”

 

 

    This bill is cronyism at it’s worst and even more despicable is the fact that the majority of Republicans seem perfectly willing to allow President Obama and the USTR to sign away our rights and that the Democrats in congress are the ones that are the defenders of our rights . For shame .

   Remember that this bill has provisions it it that will allow the government to take control over patents , copyrights , the internet and a host of other creative avenues all done under the greatest cloud of secrecy . When we have to depend on Steny Hoyer and the Democrats to protect our internet rights and other commercial freedoms from the Republicans in congress it should come as no surprise why Republican approval is in the toilet . 

 

 

TPP MUST BE STOPPED 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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