TPP vote going down to the wire

From Fight For The Future:

Here’s the deal: last month, Congress passed “Fast Track” for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

That means the TPP is now just one vote away from becoming law.

When Fast Track passed, it was heartbreaking. Over the last two years Fight for the Future built a totally unprecedented coalition of advocacy groups, tech companies, and activists fighting Fast Track, and together we were able to successfully defeat or delay Fast Track FIVE TIMES.

But in the end, pressure from the White House and an army of entrenched industry lobbyists was too much for Congress to resist, despite the overwhelming public outcry.

Now, we have a choice. We can just give up, and accept that democracy is over and the TPP is inevitable, or we can take matters into our own hands.

Here at Fight for the Future, we don’t believe in giving up.

If you're the same way and want to fight the TPP to the end.

I can speak for myself and say that I personally can’t sleep at night unless I know I’m doing everything in my power to protect our most basic rights online and off.

Together, we have fought against insurmountable odds before and won — we killed SOPA, stopped CISPA, and just this year we won Net Neutrality. Now, we’re planning to win big again. We don’t care what the DC pundits say – we are going to stop the TPP. But we can’t do it alone.

Just last week, representatives from all 13 of the nations involved in the TPP met in Hawaii to finalize the deal — and they couldn’t do it. The sticking point? The intellectual property rights chapter where copyright and all of the worst provisions for the Internet are housed.

That means if anyone can stop the TPP, it’s us. But, to be frank, we are dangerously low on funds to continue fighting the TPP, and we need to do more than just continue. If we’re going to win, we need to take it to the next level.

Can you chip in to help make sure we have the resources to keep fighting and win?

In emails like this, it’s common for groups to spread either doom and gloom or unsubstantiated optimism. I have neither of those for you today, just real talk.

The TPP is bad. Really bad. It’s arguably one of the worst things that could happen to the Internet, to our economy, and to the planet.

I can’t promise that we’re going to stop it. But I can promise that if we don’t try, it will certainly pass.

Can you chip in $5 to help us keep up the fight?

Yes, I’ll chip in $5 to help stop the TPP.

We plan to fight until the last breath, and we’re honored to have you fighting alongside us.

For the Internet,
-Evan at Fight for the Future

P.S. Whether we win or lose on the TPP, the battle for the future of the Internet will rage on. To win these fights in the long run, we need to have consistent, ongoing support from people like you. The best way to do that is to chip in a small amount every single month.

Tell your Senator to vote against Fast Track for TPP/TAA

From The Tea Party:

There's no time to waste so I'll get right to the point.

We need to shut down the U.S. Senate switchboard TODAY, and we need your help.

Yesterday the Senate voted to advance President Obama's trade agenda, with their vote to end debate on fast-track trade authority (commonly referred to as TPA).

This afternoon the Senate will vote on whether or not to approve TPA. They will also vote on moving forward a separate bill that includes Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and trade preferences for African countries, known as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

If passed, these bills will go to Obama's desk to be signed into law, giving him the authority to finalize the largest so-called "free trade" deal in history - the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

This TPP deal, negotiated in secret meetings dominated by governments and corporations, is bad for American workers, consumers and small business owners.

We need to make our voice heard and STOP this giveaway to corporate America and foreign nations!

Please take a moment RIGHT NOW to call your United States Senators and demand they stand up for American citizens, by voting "no" to fast-track trade authority for President Obama.

Please, do these two things immediately:

1. Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and tell your Senators: Vote with the Freedom Caucus, VOTE NO on TPA and TAA/Trade preferences.

2. Chip in $15, $25, $50, or more to make sure we can get this in front of every fellow tea party American.

Thank you for your activism and support.

Sincerely,

Katrina Pierson
Tea Party Leadership Fund

Defeat TPP once and for all

From The Daily Kos:

In a dramatic turn of events on Friday, the House of Representatives narrowly voted to pass Fast Track trade authority, 219-211, thus opening the door for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and many other horrible trade "deals" down the road.

But there is a HUGE catch which means we can still stop Fast Track early next week, and defeat TPP once and for all.

Sign and send the petition to your member of the House of Representatives: Vote against TAA to stop Fast Track and protect American jobs.

Just before the House voted to pass Fast Track, it overwhelmingly voted to defeat something called TAA (Trade Adjustment Assistance)—which funds "worker training" by cutting Medicare. The House needed to pass TAA in order for the bill to go to President Obama's desk, because TAA was in the Senate version of the bill.

Without TAA, the House and Senate have to come up with an entirely different bill, and then both re-vote on the whole thing again. What's more, the Senate probably can't pass Fast Track without TAA. They tried that last month, and failed.

Now, there will be another vote on TAA in the House this Tuesday. If we can defeat it again—and yesterday we crushed it 302-126—then Fast Track and TPP all go away and we win!

Sign and send the petition to you member of the House of Representatives: Vote to against TAA and stop Fast Track and TPP once and for all.

Keep fighting,
Chris Bowers, Daily Kos

P.S. Please read our write-up of what happened.

Congress set to vote on TPP Fast Track in less than 36 hours

From Fight For The Future:

Breaking news: less than 36 hours before U.S. Congress is expected to vote on Fast Track legislation for secret trade deals that could censor the Internet, someone has posted the entire text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) online.

Click here to read the TPP, then share to spread it around before they take it down!

Satire alert: you need to click the link to get it ;-)

Enjoy!

-Evan and Charlie
Fight for the Future

P.S. This part is no joke: Congress votes on Fast Track this week! Take action before it’s too late.

Tell Congress let the public see TPP

From The Daily KOS:

One of the most controversial aspects of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement is that it’s secret from the public. If the proponents of the agreement have their way, the text will still be secret from the public when the House votes on Fast Track trade negotiating authority, essentially a vote to pre-approve the agreement.

Members of Congress, individually and collectively, could do something about this. For example,
•The House and Senate intelligence committees have the power to declassify any document in their possession if they believe that doing so would serve the public interest;
•Any individual Member of Congress could publish — e.g., by entering into the Congressional Record — a portion of the draft TPP negotiating text, as Republican Congressman Darrel Issa did when he published the intellectual property chapter;
•Members of the House who have not yet committed to vote no on Fast Track could pledge to vote no on Fast Track if the text of the TPP is not made public before the vote.

Urge Congress to use its power to force publication of the TPP text by signing our petition.

Bad news and good news on TPP

From Fight For The Future:

Bad news first: Fast Track legislation to ram through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has now passed out of committee in both the U.S. House and Senate, and it’s moving fast.

Now the good news: just last week the House Majority Leader admitted that “the votes aren’t there yet” to get this anti-democratic, censorship-enabling legislation passed.1

But both the Obama administration and corporate-backed Republican leadership are working together to spread propaganda and claim there is “nothing secret” in the TPP – while the entire text is still classified!2 Worse, they are literally bribing reps with a fancy dinner if they vote for the Fast Track bills.3

The vote is going to be painfully close. Every second counts and every voice matters. Will you speak out today?

Click here to take urgent action to stop the Fast Track bills now.

This is a huge opportunity. If we can defeat Fast Track legislation in the U.S., it’s very likely that the entire TPP will fall apart. This is our chance to change history and to make it clear we won’t accept a future where decisions that affect our lives are made by governments in secret.

Thanks for all you do,

-Evan at Fight for the Future

P.S. Rep Nancy Pelosi now plays a key role in whether these Fast Track bills move ahead. Will you click here to tweet at her or call her office at (202) 225-4965 to tell her to oppose Fast Track for the TPP?

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Tell the Obama administration to practice transparency when it comes to TPP by posting it online for the general public

From Credo:

Our campaign to pressure President Obama's administration to immediately make all secret trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) just got a massive boost.

President Obama is lashing out at activists and our elected representatives who have called for transparency around secret negotiations, calling us “dishonest.”

In response Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown added their voices to Senator Bernie Sanders’ call for the Obama administration to immediately release the full text of the TPP. In a letter to the president, Senators Warren and Brown wrote:

The American people should be allowed to weigh in on the facts of the TPP before Members of Congress are asked to voluntarily reduce our ability to amend, shape, or block any trade deal. The press and the public should be allowed to examine the details that corporate executives and lobbyists have already been allowed to influence for years. Members of Congress should be able to discuss the agreement with our constituents and to participate in a robust public debate instead of being muzzled by classification rules. Before Congress votes to facilitate the adoption of the TPP, the American public should be allowed to see for themselves whether it's good deal for them.1

Stand with Senators Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown and Bernie Sanders: Add your name and tell President Obama to immediately release the full text of the TPP before Congress votes on Fast Track. Click here to sign the petition.

Senators Warren and Brown sent the letter in response to the president's recent attacks on progressive activists fighting to stop Congress from rubber-stamping a Fast Track bill for the biggest trade deal in our history. President Obama has even gone so far as to compare our objections to the deal being negotiated with corporations and foreign governments to Sarah Palin’s invocating of “death panels” during the health care debate.

The Warren-Brown letter specifically points out that President Obama's "trade transparency record is worse than that of former President George W. Bush," noting that even Bush "published the full negotiation texts of a major free trade deal with Latin America several months before Congress had to vote on giving the deal fast track benefits."2

This letter gives our ongoing campaign to rally around Senator Bernie Sanders’ call for transparency on all pending trade deals a huge lift. We need to do our part by pushing even harder for transparency now.

Add your name and tell President Obama to immediately release the full text of the TPP before Congress votes on Fast Track. Click here to sign the petition.

It would be outrageous for the Obama administration to allow the Republican leadership and their corporate allies within the Democratic party to ram through Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority without allowing all members of Congress, their staff, and the American public to read what is in trade agreements such as the TPP. And as Senators Warren and Brown point out, it would be worse than George W. Bush!

In fact, the reason why the corporate lobby is pushing hard for Fast Track is that they know the TPP could not get through Congress without this extraordinary power grab.

This secret "trade" deal would eviscerate broad swaths of regulations that protect consumers, workers, the environment and the soundness of our financial system. And it would set up a legal regime where corporate profits trump the policy priorities of sovereign governments.

It’s ironic that the president claims critics of the TPP "don’t know what they’re talking about" when it’s his administration that is refusing to release the text of his secret trade agreement to the public – only providing extremely limited access to members of Congress. The Obama administration should immediately release the TPP text to the public, and Congress, so we can have a spirited and informed public debate on the largest trade deal in our history.

Stand with Senators Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, and Bernie Sanders: Add your name and tell President Obama to immediately release the full text of the TPP before Congress votes on Fast Track. Click the link below to sign the petition.

To sign petition

Thank you for your activism.

Murshed Zaheed, Deputy Political Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets

Fast Track aka Martial Law

From American Jobs Alliance:

This is important - it is urgent we act now.

Next month – while no one is paying attention – President Obama will ask Congress to give him even more power.

Obama wants the power to make foreign policy unilaterally, without having to consult Congress again.

It’s called “Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority” and legislation granting Obama this power will be introduced in Congress on January 8th.

Under “Fast Track” …

§ President Obama would override Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution and strip Congress of its power to oversee foreign commerce.

§ Obama and his corporatist allies would secretly write the job-killing TransPacific Partnership international “trade” deal with no Congressional oversight!

§ Obama would sign and enter the deal before Congress voted on it.

§ Congress could not change one word of the deal Obama has written and already signed.

§ Congress would only have an up-or-down vote – no amendments - and Obama tells Congress when to vote!

§ Congress would have extremely limited time to debate or examine the agreement Obama has written in secret. As Nancy Pelosi said about Obamacare, Congress would have to approve the agreement to find out what’s in it!

House Speaker Boehner and his corporatist paymasters want to pass “fast track” in January before we have a chance to organize.

That’s why we need to act now.

We must let our Representatives know we oppose giving Obama even more power and they must vote NO on Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority!

Click here and we will connect you to your Representative’s office by phone – free of charge.

Our voices will make all the difference.


Call your Representative today and let them know we expect them to vote NO on Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority.


Click here to find your Representative’s phone number - and We will connect you, free of charge.

An organized and outspoken citizenry is the only defense of liberty.

Thank you, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Curtis Ellis

American Jobs Alliance

512 508-8332

Read what Allen West says about the unconstitutional, corporatist “fast track” power grab.

Grassroots leaders from across Texas oppose Fast Track – read what they say.

Read what Senator Rand Paul and others are saying about this unconstitutional corporatist scheme.