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Wednesday, June 3rd

National Call-in Day to Stop Fast Track for TPP, TTIP, & TISA

Say No to Corporate Power Grabs Disguised as Trade Deals!


Stop the Fast Track to Corporate Rule!


Congress is pushing legislation right now that would "Fast Track" the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, and the Trade In Services Agreement — secretive international deals negotiated behind closed doors by government bureaucrats with inside track access for over 500 corporate “advisers”. These agreements threatens everything we care about: democracy, jobs, wages and labor rights, the environment, consumer protection laws, financial industry legislation, access to affordable medicines, family farmers, animal protection laws, internet freedom, and more!


How Fast Track Helps Implement Bad Trade Deals by Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch


Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress writes the laws and sets trade policy. And so it was for 200 years. President Nixon seized both of those powers through a mechanism known as Fast Track – a legislative luge run used to skid through harmful “trade” deals. Candidate Obama said he would “replace Fast Track … I will ensure that Congress plays a strong and informed role in our international economic policy and in any future agreements we pursue...” Instead, now he is asking Congress to revive Nixon’s old Fast Track process.

Of the 500+ U.S. trade agreements enacted since 1974 when Fast Track was hatched, Fast Track was only used for 16 of them, showing that Fast Track is not needed to pass trade deals. Rather, Fast Track has been used to ram through Congress sweeping pacts such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). These deals, like TPP, extend far beyond traditional trade business (like tariff-cutting) to impose retrograde constraints on our domestic financial, energy, medicine-patent, food safety, immigration, procurement and other policies. TPP would even limit internet freedom.



Fast Track hands the executive branch five key congressional powers – steamrolling key checks and balances in the Constitution by seizing authority vested in our congressional representatives:

o Power to select trade partners,

o Power to set terms and sign sweeping “trade” agreements before Congress votes on them,

o Power to write legislation to change all U.S. laws needed to conform with the agreements, skirt congressional review and amendments and directly submit this legislation for a vote,

o Power to force votes within 60-90 days of submitting the implementing legislation to Congress,

o Power to override normal voting rules. All amendments on Fast-Tracked FTAs are banned and debate is limited, including in the Senate.


Last week, the Senate passed Fast Track. The Senate Fast Track bill contained an amendment that which would prohibit Fast Track from being applied to trade agreements with countries that are failing to address the human trafficking – including TPP member nation Malaysia. Outrageously, House Ways and Means Chair Paul Ryan and President Obama want to remove this human rights defending language from the House version of the bill!


WHAT YOU CAN DO


* Call your Representative and urge her to publicly commit to opposing Fast Track (also called Trade Promotion Authority). Let her know that no amendments or side deals will make Fast Track legislation acceptable. Tell her Congress should maintain its power to carefully review deals like TPP, TTIP, and TISA on its own timeline and when necessary, amend them. Also urge your Representative to oppose efforts to remove the human trafficking amendment from the bill. You can find your Representative's name and phine number at http://clicktocallcongress.org or by calling (718) 218-4523.


* Contact TradeJustice New York Metro to find out how you can volunteer to stop Fast Track and to be connected with efforts to influence your Representative to oppose Fast Track, even if you live outside the NY metro region.




Phone: (718) 218-4523 * Email: info@tradejustice.net * Web: http://tradejustice.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OWSTradeJustice * Donate: http://tradejustice.net/donate
Facebook Page: http://tradejustice.net/fbp * Facebook Group: http://tradejustice.net/fbg
Email Lists: http://tradejustice.net/elists * E-Petition: https://www.causes.com/stoptpp