Senators Seek to Sink Lame Duck TPP Approval

According to BuzzFeed journalist Rick Hamby, a dozen senators have signed a letter urging Obama to remove the Investors State Dispute Settlement Clause (ISDS) from  the highly controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Obama is pushing Congress to ratify the TPP during a lame duck session of Congress following the November election.

The senators — including Sherrod Brown, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren — object to a private legal system established by the ISDS that would empower foreign companies to sue the US government before a panel of arbitrators. The panel would likely be made up of corporate lawyers.

The letter throws a major wrench in Obama’s plans. Under the Fast Track Authority Congress granted earlier this year, Congress can only approve or reject TPP – they can’t amend it.

TPP has been strongly condemned, both by the libertarian right and the progressive left as being less about trade than a Wall Street effort to dismantle all healthy and safety, labor and environmental regulation in the 12 countries that have signed up to it.

Both Trump and Clinton “publicly” oppose the TPP, but the latest Wikileaks dump of Clinton’s Goldman Sachs speeches manifests the glowing support she expresses to funders in private. See leaked emails

To read more about the senators’ letter, see Senators Call to Remove ISDS from TPP

To join the #NoLameDuckUprising Nov 12-23, go to #Nolameduckuprising