TPP Fast Track Passes Key Vote In the Senate, Moves On To the House

onproton writes: The Senate voted yesterday to reauthorize the controversial Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which expedites, or 'Fast Tracks,' the passage of trade agreements through Congress. If also approved by the House, it will grant the authority to decide and negotiate the terms of agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to the executive branch, significantly limiting congressional involvement and leaving little room for debate. Proponents of the bill, namely the USTR, claim that Fast Tracking the TPP is critical to successfully negotiating its terms internationally, and will "ensure that Congress, stakeholders and the public are closely involved before, during and after the conclusion of trade agreement negotiations." Though in reality, it does not introduce significant changes in the transparency or reporting requirements that are currently in place, which have allowed the negotiations of this deal to be held in secret since 2009. With concerns being raised about the deal's impacts on everything from intellectual property rights to government sovereignty, it is surprising to many that Congress would abdicate their role in determining the specifics of agreements that may have far reaching implications for their constituents.

Comments

Meh

[c]

Not sure it's all that big of a deal, really. The USA has a history of ignoring the inconvenient parts of trade deals or any rulings against them, anyway.

Re:Meh

[gerddie]

The idea of this type of trade agreement is to introduce rules that big business wants, but are currently difficult to push through in your country. If the trade agreement is ratified, the government will then say "We need to set these rules, because they are part of the trade agreement", and you are fucked. In other words, TPP will be used to diminish your rights. You might want to continue reading here.

Poison Pill

[Anonymous Coward]

It apparently has a poison pill:

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/05/good-news-on-tpp-as-senate-passes-fast-track-bill-with-human-trafficking-poison-pill.html

Re:legality

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

From page 10 of the referenced https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33743.pdf:

Expedited Legislative Procedures

Should the above requirements be fulfilled to the satisfaction of Congress, it has agreed to follow certain expedited legislative procedures as defined in Sections 151-154 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended. In effect, these rules require that Congress must act on the bill sent over by the White House, and in other ways represent a significant departure from ordinary legislative procedures. The major rules are listed below (see Appendix C for greater detail):

(1) mandatory introduction of the implementing bill in both houses of Congress and immediate referral to the appropriate committees (House Ways and Means, Senate Finance, and others);

(2) automatic discharge from House and Senate Committees after a limited period of time;

(3) limited floor debate; and

(4) no amendment, meaning that each house must vote either up or down on the bill, which passes with a simple majority.