OPPOSE THE 'TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP' NOW!

Dear Conservatives, The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is an audacious attempt to transfer enormous amounts of power from the hands of publicly elected officials to private corporate boardrooms. This would come at the inevitable expense of the environment, human rights and the stability of our climate. It is urgently important that your Congressional representatives hear from you today that you demand on open public debate on the TPP before it is allowed to become law. After years of secret negotiations orchestrated by corporate lawyers and industry lobbyists, the closely held details of the TPP are about to see the light of day. But before that happens, the architects of the TPP are pushing furiously to persuade Congress to surrender its oversight powers by voting to revive the scheme called “Fast Track” that was used to push through NAFTA. Fast Track grants the president authority to sign trade pacts before Congress votes on them, or even sees what they contain. Thankfully, the idea of Fast Track is not popular in Congress and efforts to grant the president this authority have been voted down before. There is a very real chance that if enough Americans speak out right now we can stop this bad idea from becoming law and force a more public debate around what may well be the largest and most important international trade agreement the world has ever seen. This crucial vote could happen any day – please act now and tell your congressperson to VOTE NO on granting Fast Track for the TPP! The scale and scope of the TPP is staggering. It is referred to as a ‘trade agreement,’ but in actuality this pact is a long-dreamed-of template for implementing a binding system of global corporate governance as bold as anything the world’s wealthiest elite has attempted before. Of the 29 chapters under negotiation, only a few have to do directly with trade. The other chapters enshrine new rights and privileges for major corporations while weakening the power of sovereign countries and local municipalities to oppose them. The TPP essentially proposes to establish a parallel system of justice where companies can sue countries in a tribunal of judges composed of unaccountable international trade lawyers with little to no process for appeal. Please take action today to make sure Congress is not duped into surrendering its authority to influence this historically important international agreement. Because the negotiations have been more secretive than any preceding trade agreement, details are sparse. However from leaked chapters it is known that the main purpose of the TPP is to remove legislative barriers that currently restrict the rights of multinational corporations, at the expense of sovereignty and human rights. The TPP would give companies sweeping powers to sue local governments or entire countries over democratically enacted laws a company deems an impediment to maximum profits. This would have major implications for protections on everything from forests and rivers to worker safety, healthcare and internet privacy. For instance, if a city, county or state were to ban the controversial practice of fracking in their community, Big Oil would be empowered to sue for millions of dollars and force local laws to be overturned even if they have popular support. Any way you slice it, the TPP would be a disaster for people and the planet and right now it is urgent that members of the US Congress hear from you that you demand they vote down Fast Track and force a public debate about the TPP. For public power over private profit, Laurel Sutherlin Communications Manager Rainforest Action Network