Derail Fast Track and Stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)

TODAY, join the national and international mobilization against the TPP.

If you are in the NYC area, attend the Sept. 17 events. Here’s the schedule.

In the U.S., September 17^th is Constitution Day and the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3) states that the United States Congress shall have power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations....”

So TODAY, on Tuesday, September 17, take action to Derail Fast Track and Stop the TPP! If Congress re-approves Fast Track (aka Presidential Trade Promotion Authority) that lapsed in 2006, Congress has limited debate on a trade agreement negotiated in secret by 600 corporate trade lobbyists. Congress will not have seen the text in advance and will have only 90 hours of debate with no amendments allowed, and an up-or-down yes or no vote. 

This is an urgent Call to Take Action to Make Your Voice Heard. We must Derail Fast Track so we can defeat the TPP. (Click the poster below for a downloadable PDF version.)

   

On Tuesday, September 17 (TODAY!) Call or email your Congress Members to ask each one to live up to this important Constitutional duty “to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations” and ask for a “NO” vote on Fast Track renewal. Find their phone numbers here. You know what’s at stake for workers, farmers, the environment, public health and democracy here in the US, and also for the hundreds of millions of people around the Pacific Rim who will be impacted by the TPP. In every Pacific Rim country millions of people have and still are organizing to block the TPP. But, of course, we don’t read about it in the US media. 

Ask your members of Congress to:

1. Demand that Congress see the TPP text to study, debate it and share it with constituents. Congress has been locked out—if given “clearance” to read any small portion of text, Congress members can not take notes and are pledged to secrecy.

2. Ask Your Congress member to say “NO” to Fast Track.  If we defeat Fast Track, the legitimate constitutional role of Congress to “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations” is restored and Congress and the people of this country can have a thorough debate on the TPP and why we need fair trade that protects labor, public health, the environment and much, much more – not “free trade.” 

A fast-track vote might be coming as soon as early October, so now is the time to make your voice heard.

While some members of Congress are ready to do their jobs by voting "no" on Fast Track, more are fence-sitting.

Write a Letter to the Editor to thank your Congress Members who are supporting fair trade and global democracy and remind the fence-sitters that they have a job to do, and part of that job is to represent their constituents, the 99%, who demand that human rights and national sovereignty take precedence over corporate greed and the so-called "right to profit” by the 1%.

 

This is just the beginning. If you are in the DC area, join the TPP: Out of the Shadows Rally, Friday, September 20 at the Office of the US Trade Representative, 600 17^th Street NW.  

Lead negotiators for the TPP will be meeting in Washington, DC this month for several days of horse-trading aimed at speeding the TPP toward a final agreed-upon text. This round is even more secretive than the last three years of closed-door negotiations, there is no stakeholder process for members of civil society groups ...that means that no one to stand up for health, education, Main Street and financial regulations with teeth, labor and the environment.  

Email your Representative by clicking here.