Congress and others Call for Immediate Release of TPP Text

Nine members of the U.S. House of Representatives are demanding the immediate release of the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

Nine members of Congress at a U.S. Capitol Hill news conference on Friday calling for immediate release of the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal agreement.

The United States and 11 other countries announced on Monday, Oct. 5 that they have reached an agreement, yet no final text has been shared with Members of Congress, who would vote on it. United States Trade Representative Michael Froman said, meanwhile, it could be as long as a month before the supposedly completed deal could be transmitted to Congress.

The representatives say that this is too long to wait. They gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Friday – four full days after trade ministers announced the agreement – and demanded that the Obama Administration release the final text immediately. The members included Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT); Marcy Kaptur (D-OH); Lloyd Doggett (D-TX); Jan Schakowsky (D-IL); Tim Ryan (D-OH); David Cicilline (D-RI); Bill Pascrell (D-NJ); Dan Kildee (D-MI); and Keith Ellison (D-MN).

Negotiations of the deal, which lasted more than five years, took place under unprecedented secrecy. The lawmakers said the administration has no more excuses to keep the text secret after holding a self-congratulatory news conference in Atlanta with other participating nations. Kaptur said her constituents in Northwestern Ohio – a region heavily dependent on the auto industry that suffered huge job losses as the result of past trade agreements – are owed better than the secrecy still surrounding the agreement.

Arguing that there's no reason to delay publication of the documents now that countries have reached a deal, the AFL-CIO also demanded an immediate release of the TPP text.

"Creating a level playing field for American workers includes equal access to information, and the only way to ensure that is to ensure that all Americans have equal access to the text – not in 30 days, after the public relations spin has been spun, but right now," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a letter today to President Barack Obama.

Fast-track trade rules require Obama to release the text of the agreement 30 days after notifying Congress that he intends to sign the agreement.

"The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has long claimed the TPP will level the playing field for American workers and American business – that it will be the most 'progressive' trade agreement in history," Trumka wrote. "The American people are eager to have the opportunity to read the new rules for themselves."