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posted by n1 on Monday May 18 2015, @06:06AM   Printer-friendly
from the national-sovereignty-in-peril dept.

Common Dreams reports:

Now that official debate has begun, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wants to pass Fast Track bill before Memorial Day.

[...] The U.S. Senate on [May 14] approved a motion to begin debate on the Fast Track authority President Barack Obama needs to advance controversial trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The measure passed 65-33.

Senate Democrats blocked the first attempt to proceed on the trade legislation on Tuesday, but backtracked in the wake of further negotiations--and intense pressure from the White House.

Boing Boing warns URGENT: Senate backtracks on TPP fasttrack--call Congress to oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership

TPP is a treaty negotiated under extraordinary secrecy--Members of Congress were threatened with jail for discussing its contents--and virtually everything we know about it comes from leaks. One thing we do know is that it contains a provision to let multinational corporations sue governments for passing environmental and labor laws that undermine their profits (similar provisions in other treaties have been used by tobacco companies to sue the Australian government over a law mandating plain packaging for cigarettes). We also know that TPP hardens the worst elements of US copyright, trumping Congress's right to review the term of copyright and the scope of the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA (these are the rules that allowed John Deere to claim that farmers don't own their tractors, because of the copyrights in the software in their engines).

The Electronic Frontier Foundation needs your help to contact your Congresscritter to block this. TPP is a fragile monster, and it can really only pass if the Congress abdicates its legislative authority and lets the President make up laws and legal obligations without Congressional input. The Republican Congress--and many Democrats--is vulnerable to messages from voters opposing the extension of these powers to the President.

Related: Fast-Track Trade Measure Fails Key Test Vote In Senate

 
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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @06:58AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @06:58AM (#184379)

    Install gewg_ as dictator-for-life. My biased rule shall last until I am assassinated by revolutionaries. Then they can pick one of their own as the next dictator-for-life.

    -- gewg_

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @08:35AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @08:35AM (#184401)

    8-)

    -- gewg_

  • (Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Monday May 18 2015, @03:41PM

    by TheGratefulNet (659) on Monday May 18 2015, @03:41PM (#184593)

    I would vote for someone with laser blasts and slug slime. sure. count me in!

    --
    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."