<div dir="ltr"><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">Dear President Obama:</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35);min-height:15px">
<br></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">We are writing to express our strong concerns about the Trans-Pacific Partnership</p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">and theTrans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. We seek two steps from your</p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">administration right now:</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35);min-height:15px">
<br></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">1. Do not seek Fast Track. Respect the Constitution and allow Congress to</p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">fulfill its constitutional mandate under the Commerce Clause which gives Congress the</p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">responsibility to “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations.” This means,</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">
do not seek “Fast Track” or Trade Promotion Authority, which will prevent Congress</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">
from holding hearings, listen to expert testimony and propose amendments before the TPP is finalized.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35);min-height:15px">
<br></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">2. Make the text of the TPP public. Your former Trade Representative Ron Kirk</p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">told the media the reason the text is secret is because if its contents</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">
were known the treaty would not become law. The continued secrecy just re-enforces this statement. When past agreements were negotiated the contents were made public. Your administration has been the most secretive when it comes to trade</p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">negotiations, except for the 600 corporate advisers who have access to the content. Even Congress members only have limited access to portions of the agreement and they are not allowed to discuss the contents with their constituents. These anti-democratic actions are inconsistent with your rhetoric concerning transparency, respect for the Constitution and belief in democracy.</p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35);min-height:15px"><br></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">
When you first ran for office you spoke out, criticizing NAFTA. You promised to</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">
renegotiate parts of NAFTA to include better labor and environmental protections. In</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">
one of the primary debates you even said we might leave the treaty saying, “we should</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">
use the hammer of a potential opt-out as leverage to ensure that we actually get labor</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">
and environmental standards that are enforced.” On September 27, 2008, the Chicago</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">
Tribune reports: "Obama said, if elected, he would press for NAFTA's renegotiation because the current deal contains inadequate labor and environmental standards. 'As part of any current or future trade agreement negotiations, our nation must address the</p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">dislocations caused by expanded global trade,' Obama said, 'by maintaining workers' basic benefits and helping them retrain and by providing communities hit with plant closings with tools and strategies to remain viable.'”</p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35);min-height:15px"><br></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">
The leaked portions of the TPP show that the agreement will put profits</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">ahead of people and the planet; that while transnational corporations like WalMart,</p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">Chevron, Bank of America and Monsanto can sue government for “expected lost profits,” unions, environmentalists, consumer groups and citizens cannot sue when corporate</p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">trade hurts them. You should know that I am part of a growing movement that seeks to stop the TPP from becoming law. The portions that have been leaked show that the agreement puts profits of transnational corporations ahead of protecting the planet and providing for the people.This does not mean that we oppose trade; what we oppose is trade written by and for transnational corporations in a secret process.</p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35);min-height:15px"><br></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">
We urge you to restart the negotiations on the TPP and TATIP with an open</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">process where civil society can participate including unions, environmental</p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">organizations,consumer protection groups, small business associations and others on an equal footing with the transnational corporations. We cannot afford to give corporations the same legal power as governments, sacrificing our sovereignty.</p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">Please respect the Constitution and the democratic process by making the text public</p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">and stopping the pursuit of Fast Track.</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">
We further propose the following amendments which would make the TPP acceptable..</p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial"></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial">
<font class="" color="#232323"> </font></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial"><font class="" color="#232323"> 1. Signatories to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty shall be bound by all the rules and regulations of the United Nations International Labor Organization (ILO</font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial"><font class="" color="#232323"> ). These rules and regulations shall be self-executing upon ratification of the treaty.</font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial"><font class="" color="#232323"> 2. Signatories to this treaty shall be bound by all provisions in the constitutional international law, in particular by the provisions in the </font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial"><font class="" color="#232323">U N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the U.N. Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. These laws and provisions shall be self-executing upon ratification of the treaty.</font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial"><font class="" color="#232323"> 3. The prohibitions in the treaty against public ownership shall not apply to publicly owned infrastructure such as roads, schools and universities, health services, transportation services, banks, public buildings such as the White House or legislative buildings, or any other public infrastructure so designated by the nation. Factories or manufacturing entities which sell goods, however, shall come under the prohibition. </font></p>
<div style="color:rgb(35,35,35)"><br></div><p></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)">Peace be with you and with all people,</p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35);min-height:15px"> </p></div>