Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., today blasted the secrecy shrouding the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.
“They said, well, it’s very transparent. Go down and look at it,” said Boxer on the floor of the Senate. “Let me tell you what you have to do to read this agreement. Follow this: you can only take a few of your staffers who happen to have a security clearance — because, God knows why, this is secure, this is classified. It has nothing to do with defense. It has nothing to do with going after ISIS.”
[...]
“The guard says, ‘you can’t take notes.’ I said, ‘I can’t take notes?’” Boxer recalled. “‘Well, you can take notes, but have to give them back to me, and I’ll put them in a file.’
The Intercept
Yesterday, the fast track option failed to pass the Senate. Who could have guessed? They must be feeling public pressure.But there’s an exception: if you’re part of one of 28 U.S. government-appointed trade advisory committees providing advice to the U.S. negotiators. The committees with the most access to what’s going on in the negotiations are 16 “Industry Trade Advisory Committees,” whose members include AT&T, General Electric, Apple, Dow Chemical, Nike, Walmart and the American Petroleum Institute.
The Intercept
Get that. Republicans were backing Obama. Democrats voted it down.Senate Democrats Tuesday successfully blocked a Republican move to start the formal debate on a law that would give President Barack Obama the power to unilaterally make international trade deals. The Trade Promotion Authority bill would also let Obama “fast-track” the huge and complex Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact with 10 other Pacific Rim nations. The TPA the president wants would give Congress only an up-or-down vote on the whole package, without the ability to amend it. The Senate voted 45-52 against it.
International Business times
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
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