[Occupymendocino] [Fwd: the letter with proposed amendments at the end]

[agnes at mcn.org]

Dear President Obama:


We are writing to express our strong concerns about the Trans-Pacific
Partnership and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. We
seek two steps from your administration right now:


1. Do not seek Fast Track. Respect the Constitution and allow Congress to
fulfill its constitutional mandate under the Commerce Clause which gives
Congress the responsibility to “To regulate Commerce with foreign
Nations.” This means,do not seek “Fast Track” or Trade Promotion
Authority, which will prevent Congress from holding hearings, listen to
expert testimony and propose amendments before the TPP is finalized.


2. Make the text of the TPP public. Your former Trade Representative Ron
Kirk told the media the reason the text is secret is because if its contents
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 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.


When you first ran for office you spoke out, criticizing NAFTA. You
promised to renegotiate parts of NAFTA to include better labor and
environmental protections. In one of the primary debates you even said we
might leave the treaty saying, “we should use the hammer of a potential
opt-out as leverage to ensure that we actually get labor and environmental
standards that are enforced.” On September 27, 2008, the Chicago
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 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.'”


The leaked portions of the TPP show that the agreement will put profits
ahead of people and the planet; that while transnational corporations like
WalMart,Chevron, Bank of America and Monsanto can sue government for
“expected lost profits,” unions, environmentalists, consumer groups and
citizens cannot sue when corporate 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.


We urge you to restart the negotiations on the TPP and TATIP with an open
process where civil society can participate including unions, environmental
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.

Please respect the Constitution and the democratic process by making the
text public and stopping the pursuit of Fast Track.

We further propose the following amendments which would make the TPP
acceptable..



 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).

    These rules and regulations shall be self-executing upon
ratification of the treaty.

      2.  Signatories to this treaty shall be bound by all provisions in
the constitutional international law, in particular by the provisions in
the 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.

      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.

Peace be with you and with all people,
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