For once, we have some good news. After years of calling for release of the secretive draft text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), we have achieved an interim victory.
No, you still can’t yet get a look at the sweeping 12-country “free trade” agreement (FTA) that implicates everything from your morning Internet browsing to your evening dinner. But for the first known time in the three years that the secretive deal has been under negotiation by the Obama administration, said administration has allowed a member of Congress to view three chapters of the bracketed negotiating text. (In case you’re just hearing about this, that’s correct: even our elected officials have been kept in the dark on a deal that would rewrite broad swaths of domestic public interest policies.)
Last week, Congressman Alan Grayson (FL-09) got a peek at the controversial pact after requesting access from the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). After similar requests from many members of Congress, including some who received ‘no’ answers from the administration, it appears that Grayson is the FIRST member of Congress to see some of the text. Upon eyeing the deal, Grayson said, “Having seen what I’ve seen, I would characterize this as a gross abrogation of American sovereignty. And I would further characterize it as a punch in the face to the middle class of America. I think that’s fair to say from what I’ve seen so far. But I’m not allowed to tell you why!”
The Secular Jurist 
Reblogged this on digger666 and commented:
“Abrogation of American sovereignty” perhaps, but on previous form, that perversion of the political process will be for the benefit of large, multinational (largely American) corporations.
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