Trans-Pacific Partnership is great for giant corporations, bad for you

There’s a reason they are negotiating it in secret. People have been outraged by the few details that have leaked out. Supposedly a trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is in reality a collection of corporate giveaways — the most egregious of which would give giant corporations the power to hurt the public with impunity. Although more than 600 corporate “trade advisors” have access to the content that has been developed so far, Congress, the press and you are not allowed to see the text.

Through leaks we know that it would supplant domestic policies in areas such as job off-shoring, food safety, the environment, medicine costs, the internet, financial regulations, public utilities, education, transportation and more. We’ve learned that it would create a legal body that our founders did not envision which would have the power to overrule the three branches of government they did establish.

Here’s how it would work if the TPP is ratified. International tribunals consisting of three private sector lawyers would be created. Corporations would be empowered to appear before these tribunals and demand that any law they claim that has cut into their profits be repealed. If the law is not repealed, the corporation would be financially compensated for the claimed lost profits. And so, governments would lose the power to protect their citizens from predatory corporations.

This is so outrageous, and there are so many giveaways to corporations baked into this thing, that it would seem impossible for it to survive debate in Congress. That’s where something called “fast track,” comes in. It is a procedure which bypasses the process the U.S. Constitution sets out for ratification of trade agreements. When an agreement is fast tracked it receives an expedited vote. Debate is strictly limited and amendments are not allowed.

This frightening proposed agreement needs to be subjected to the light of day. It needs to be debated by Congress and the public.  Too often have corporate giveaways been sprung from secret places with the rest of us in the dark.  In these instances democracy is subverted and the interests of most of us are ignored.  It must not happen here.

Eliot Engel and Jose Serrano plan to stand up for their constituents and vote against fast track, but Congressman Rangel, who seemed to be opposed to it during the recent campaign, and Congressman Crowley are now noncommittal. They both can be reached through the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121. Tell them to vote “No” on fast track.

The authors are members of the steering committee of Northwest Bronx For Change, a group of local progressives.