Bill would require publicly available trade deal before fast-track vote

June 09, 2015, 03:12 pm

By Cristina Marcos

 http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/244440-bill-would-require-publicly-available-trade-deal-before-fast-track

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A bipartisan group of lawmakers is calling for a change to House rules to prohibit a vote on granting President Obama fast-track trade authority unless the text of the trade deal is publicly available.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) has introduced a resolution, titled the Trade Review Accountability Needs Sunlight and Preview of Any Regulations and Exact Negotiated Components (Trade TRANSPAREN-C), to require the trade deal to be publicly available for at least 60 days before Congress could vote to give the president the ability to sign off on an international negotiation.
“Today it has become more of a blank check for the executive and turned Congress into little more than a rubber stamp,” Kaptur said in a statement about trade promotion authority (TPA). “This legislation calls for an end to this dangerous and irresponsible approach and replaces it with sunlight in the form of public access and accountability.”

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Congress could not vote to amend the trade pact upon granting the president fast-track authority.Members of Congress have only been allowed to review text of the emerging Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal in a classified setting. A House vote to clear the Senate-passed bill to grant fast-track trade authority could come as soon as this week.
“We can all agree that these trade agreements will have a significant economic impact,” Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) added. “Given that fact, before Congress takes a vote on TPA, or any other trade measure, the American people deserve to see what these agreements contain.”
Fifteen other lawmakers have cosponsored the resolution, including Reps. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), Mark Takai (D-Hawaii), Richard Nolan (D-Minn.), Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), Ted Yoho (R-Fla.), Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), David McKinley (R-W.Va.), Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Steve Russell (R-Okla.).