October 6, 2015: Yesterday, trade negotiators finalized the text for the largest trade deal in history – the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). While the public has been shut out of the process, massive multinational corporations have been deeply involved in developing the TPP and have crafted it to suit their interests.

Leaked documents have revealed just how terrible this trade deal is, including a provision that would allow companies to sue the federal, state, or even local governments over democratically enacted laws that they claim hurt their profits.

That means that if the TPP is approved by Congress, local initiatives like GMO labeling laws and Buy Local preferences could be challenged in international trade courts.

We’ve had two decades since NAFTA to see the results of free trade agreements that override domestic policy: lost jobs and lower standards. The TPP will take us even further down this failed path.

Now it’s up to Congress to pass or reject the TPP.  Once the clock starts ticking, we have about four-and-a-half months to stop this deal. This puts the final vote on the TPP right in the middle of the 2016 presidential primaries. The political spotlight created by the primaries gives us a fighting to chance to stop this bad deal, but we need to speak up loud and clear.

Tell your members of Congress: Vote NO on the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

TAKE ACTION

Please call or e-mail your U.S. Representative and both your U.S. Senators. You can find who represents you:

Online: www.house.gov and www.senate.gov

By Phone: call the Capital Switchboard at 202-224-3121

Below is a sample message that you can use.

Phone calls have a much greater impact than emails. If you send an email, please be sure to personalize your message by adding a couple of sentences at the beginning about who you are and why these issues matter to you.

SAMPLE SCRIPT FOR A CALL or EMAIL:

I urge Representative/ Senator _____ to vote “No” on the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

A true free trade agreement would remove trade barriers such as tariffs and quotas — and it would stop there. But this agreement goes far beyond free trade and will undermine our domestic laws.

Proponents of TPP claim that exports will help our economy, including our farmers.  But these are the same claims that were made during the debates for NAFTA, CAFTA, and the U.S.-Korean Free Trade – and they have been proven false.  Instead, a few large companies benefit, while working class Americans have paid the price.  Rural communities in particular have suffered increasing rates of poverty and food insecurity.

I urge you to vote No on the TPP.