[Occupymendocino] letter to Obama:Stop Pushing Fast Track, respect the Constitution.

[agnes at mcn.org]

All you activists,
I don't have an email that works for Obama. Please print and add your name
and address to the bottom of the letter and send by snail mail.
Love you guys,gals.
Agnes


Barack Obama, President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama:
I am writing to express my 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.
Sincerely,
Glenis Lobb
Agnes s. Woolsey, P.O. Box 163, Mendocino,CA 95460