Thank you for urging Congress to NOT grant fast track trade promotion authority.

Here is what others are saying about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP):

Judson Phillips says it would be reckless of Congress to leave the negotiations of the largest trade agreement in history completely up to the White House:

“Fast track allows Congress to abdicate the responsibility of the Senate to give advice and consent to an international treaty. It also reduces the vote requirements from two-thirds to a simple majority of both Houses.

“But wait, this gets even worse. This bill is pure Nancy Pelosi theater. Yes, they must pass this treaty in order to find out what is in it. Fast track authority dictates that there is only a limited amount of time for debating this bill and Congress cannot change the treaty. Congress can only vote yes or no on the treaty.”

Jon Talton says “The Hard Sell Is On” and the message boils down to “trust us.” The biggest problem, Talton says, is The public doesn’t know what’s in TPP; the text, negotiated in secret, hasn’t been released.

Margot E. Kaminsky doubles down on that point:

“National security secrecy may be appropriate to protect us from our enemies; it should not be used to protect our politicians from us. For an administration that paints itself as dedicated to transparency and public input, the insistence on extensive secrecy in trade is disappointing and disingenuous. And the secrecy of trade negotiations does not just hide information from the public. It creates a funnel where powerful interests congregate, absent the checks, balances and necessary hurdles of the democratic process….

“….As it considers fast track here, Congress must address the secrecy, and the views of the privileged advisers, that shaped the agreement. Otherwise, ‘fast’ will be little more than a euphemism for ‘avoid the public, and benefit the fortunate few.'”

And Dan Gillmor makes a demand that rings familiar to those of us who have been fighting executive overreach on immigration the last few years:

“So let’s see the administration’s case — in public. Let’s hope Congress will choose to do its job, which starts with not abandoning its authority. The more we know about this deal, the worse it looks.

Leave comments on the links above. Join the debate. Spread the word.

NumbersUSA is strictly focused on policies that impact the numerical level of immigration. We oppose “fast track” for the Trans-Pacific Partnership from that perspective alone. We take no position on the many other issues the TPP would impact.