Received this e-mail today from the CREDO Action Fund regarding House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D. CA-60) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP):
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a secret "trade" deal being negotiated behind closed doors by the governments of a dozen countries (including ours) colluding with corporate interests.
Under the TPP, Internet freedom would be a joke. Developing countries would lose access to lifesaving medicines. Unsafe foods and products could pour into our country while we're powerless to stop them. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The first stage in the plan to pass the TPP is a big push for Congress to pass fast-track trade authority, which would short-circuit the typical legislative process when trade deals like the TPP come up for a vote.
Recently, 152 House Democrats, including Rep. James Clyburn (the third most powerful Democrat in the house) and Rep. George Miller (a close ally of Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi) signed letters opposing fast track. But Leader Pelosi, who has previously opposed fast track under both Presidents Clinton and Bush, has not yet announced her opposition to fast track when it comes up for a vote.
Call Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi today and ask her to publicly announce her opposition to fast track and the TPP. Click here for the number to call and a sample script.
http://act.credoaction.com/...
Fast-track trade authority would allow the president to sign a trade deal before Congress has an opportunity to review or approve it. Then the president could send it to Congress for an up-or-down vote. Fast track would mean there would be no meaningful hearings, limited debate and absolutely no amendments to the deal. And there would be tremendous pressure on Congress to rubber-stamp anything the president signs.
It's the job of Congress to fully vet trade deals and ensure they work for everyone, not just giant corporations. And it would be a deeply irresponsible abdication of responsibility for Congress to pass fast track when we know the TPP is coming down the pike, especially when we know the consequences of the TPP could be disastrous.
That is why hundreds of groups including CREDO, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Demand Progress, National Nurses United, the Sierra Club, Democracy for America, and Public Citizen have spoken out against fast track.
And it’s why over 75% of House Democrats, along with dozens of Republicans, are already on the record opposing fast track.
If Leader Pelosi uses her power and influence to encourage other Democrats to take a stand opposing fast track, that alone could put the last nail in the coffin of fast track and the TPP.
Call Leader Nancy Pelosi today and ask her to publicly announce her opposition to fast track and the TPP. Click here for the number to call and a sample script.
http://act.credoaction.com/...
The Constitution gives Congress exclusive authority over trade. But the text of the TPP is considered classified by our government and even members of Congress have been given extremely limited access to it. We know the little we do know about the deal because drafts of some of its chapters have been leaked.
Yet, while the government has kept the public and Congress largely in the dark about the TPP, it has given 600 corporate advisers access to the full text of the proposal. So it’s no wonder that the TPP has turned into a giant corporate giveaway.
Pressured by giant corporate interests that stand to make huge amounts of money on the deal, and faced with a public that has purposefully been kept ignorant about this deal, it’s not hard to see how the TPP could be rammed through Congress if fast-track trade authority is in place.
Call Leader Nancy Pelosi today and ask her to publicly announce her opposition to fast track and the TPP. Click here for the number to call and a sample script:
http://act.credoaction.com/...
Thank you for speaking out.
Matt Lockshin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets