Trans-Pacific Partnership

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring attention to another bad trade deal that could soon be forced upon us. It is possible that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, could be brought before this body for a final vote before the end of the year and end of this Congress.

We have seen time and again what bad trade deals do to our communities and to working families across this Nation. You see, when NAFTA was under consideration, American workers were told that the trade benefits would mean more jobs and economic opportunities.

What actually happened? We saw a net loss of 700,000 jobs thanks to NAFTA. So if history is any guide, we know what to expect from TPP. But in many ways, this agreement is even more harmful than NAFTA. In fact, the core of this deal is allowing foreign corporations to sue the U.S. Government over regulations they simply do not like.

Imagine, any time there is an environmental regulation or worker safety regulation that a company does not care for, they can sue.

These cases will not go through the regular legal process. Instead, TPP creates a special tribunal of three corporate lawyers to evaluate the case. And if a company convinces these three lawyers that a law or regulation violates their TPP rights, well, then the American taxpayer has to pay these corporations enormous compensation.

Let's be clear. There is no appeal process. There is no way to reverse these decisions. The TPP could put the taxpayer on the hook for almost unlimited sums of money.

It is no wonder that this agreement was negotiated in private. While corporations were given plenty of opportunity to comment on how they wanted the agreement to look, the public and workers were not given a seat in the room--or even the chance to review the text before it was finalized.

The end result, unsurprisingly, is an agreement that is bad for the American people and would affect their daily lives in countless ways.

American workers would find themselves competing for jobs against workers in places like Vietnam, who make 65 cents an hour--65 cents an hour.

It is no wonder that this agreement would require the U.S. to import food that does not meet our own safety standards. It would mean more expensive prescription drugs for our seniors, and it would curtail policies meant to fight climate change.

Mr. Speaker, the TPP is 6,000 pages long. It is too big and covers too much. It has too many unintended consequences. There should be no rush to push this agreement through the House before the end of the year.

However, if this agreement is put on the floor this year, I will vote ``no,'' and I encourage all of my colleagues to do the same. Protect working families. Protect the American consumer. Protect our environment. Vote ``no'' on the TPP.

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