Congress Can — and Should — Declassify the TPP

[n2doc]

by Robert Naiman

One of the most controversial aspects of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the fact that the Obama administration has tried to impose a public blockade on the text of the draft agreement.

When Congress votes on whether to grant the president “fast-track authority” to negotiate the TPP — which would bar Congress from making any changes to the secret pact after it’s negotiated — it will effectively be a vote to pre-approve the TPP itself.

Although the other negotiating countries and “cleared” corporate advisers to the US Trade Representative have access to the draft TPP agreement, the American people haven’t been allowed to see it before Congress votes on fast track. Members of Congress can read the draft agreement under heavy restrictions, but they can’t publicly discuss or consult on what they have read.

Arguments against Secrecy

Alan Beattie, who is sort of the economic globalization bureau chief at the Financial Times, recently challenged what he saw as the main establishment arguments in favor of this secrecy.

more

http://billmoyers.com/2015/05/29/congress-can-declassify-tpp/

[MADem]

1. One of the things I like about DU is that I learn something new every day.

I think not only should We, The People, argue for declassification, perhaps some of the legislators objecting to the partnership--or even those expressing reservations or questions about it--should also speak up and point out this legislative option.

I mean, come on--this is pretty straightforward. Why isn't anyone pushing this button from the Hill?

According to their own rules, both the House and the Senate can act unilaterally to declassify information in their possession.

As a McClatchy report noted in August 2013, the Senate version is in Section 8 of Senate Resolution 400, which established the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The House version is in 11(g) of the House Rule X. The rules authorize the chambers’ respective intelligence committees to vote to publicly disclose any information in the possession of the committee after concluding that the public interest would be served by such disclosure.

Both rules envision a multi-step process. First, the committee votes on whether to declassify. If the vote is yes, the president has an opportunity to object in writing, stating the reasons for the objection. If the president does not object, disclosure proceeds. If the president does object, the committee considers whether to proceed anyway, by referring the matter to the full chamber.

As the McClatchy report noted, these procedures have never been “used” in the sense of carrying them through to completion. However, they have been used as a threat to compel the administration to bargain in good faith with Congress over declassification. They were used in this way in the fight over declassification of the executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the CIA’s use of torture.

And they could be so used in the present case. I called the Senate Intelligence Committee and confirmed that they have the power to move to declassify the TPP text if they want....

http://billmoyers.com/2015/05/29/congress-can-declassify-tpp/

[Romulox]

2. I notice support for the TPP plummets on the weekends. Guess we'll have to wait for the work week

for the rebuttals.

[tritsofme]

3. TPP is not permanently secret. Under TPA the full text of the agreement will be public for 60 days

before the president signs, and it will be months before there is a vote in Congress.

If President Obama negotiates a bad deal, Congress should reject it. Declassifying at this point in the process isn't about transparency, it is really just an attempt to kill any agreement the president negotiates.

[djean111]

4. BUT under TPA - better known as FAST TRACK - not a word can be changed or added or

deleted. Just an up or down vote. So saying we will be able to read it - yeah, but by then it is too damned late. And there will be all that time to grease Congress.

Also - much of the TPP is not about trade between countries. It is about corporate power. It is about extending patents on drugs. Stuff like that.
Sort of "One agreement to rule us all", really.

"Kill any deal the President negotiates" - sound like an old GOP trick, right? Wrong. The GOP and Obama are working to pass this. It is Democrats who do not want this pig to pass.

[tritsofme]

5. So if President Obama submits a bad agreement, reject it.

That is the responsibility of Congress. The only purpose of making the text public now is to disrupt and kill the negotiations that President Obama is leading.

[djean111]

6. I am sorely afraid that by the time this thing is Fast Tracked and can not be changed at all,

enough Dems will have been coerced and bribed and bullied into voting for it. After all, Obama has already promised to help those Dems who - rightfully - are afraid there will be voter backlash when we see this thing in all of its corporate glory. Kind of telling that he is not telling Dems that this thing is so wondrous that their constituents will happily praise and reelect them.