Jared Huffman, California District 2 RepresentativeCongressman Jared Huffman serving California's 2nd Congressional District released the following statement of factual information after voting against Trade Promotion Authority in June of 2015, As he explains this currently will extend “fast-track” Trade Promotion Authority for the next six years. Here is some of his truthful information on the negatives of TPP, which he opposes: 

Trade Promotion Authority would grease the skids for a vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, limiting Congressional input to a bare minimum and leaving no chance to improve the trade deal or strip it of destructive provisions. Worse, the House today voted to weaken human trafficking standards and prohibit trade agreements from addressing climate change. This is simply unacceptable.

This goes beyond the Trans-Pacific Partnership. We are being asked to extend Trade Promotion Authority for six years, meaning that the next presidents, whoever they are, could use it to jam new trade deals through Congress that further undermine vital laws protecting consumers, the environment, and public health. I cannot support the idea of fast-tracking the dismantling of Dodd-Frank financial reforms, or fast-tracking the decimation of the Clean Water Act.

This would grease the skids not only for the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) but for any other trade deals negotiated by our presidents for the next six years. The TPP is the biggest proposed trade deal in at least the past 20 years. Especially with a deal this big, we must not repeat the mistakes of past trade deals like NAFTA which cost millions of American jobs and failed to deliver on lofty promises about protecting workers and the environment. Flawed trade deals have exacerbated income inequality, and have undermined laws protecting consumers and the environment by subjecting them to legal challenge before unaccountable trade tribunals.

As one of many examples, earlier this month the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that the United States' "Country of Origin" labeling law for beef and pork is a violation of NAFTA, entitling Canada and Mexico to billions in trade sanctions on American products unless Congress repeals the meat labeling law. The proposed TPP presents even greater risks because, in addition to countries, private corporations could challenge our health, safety, consumer, and environmental laws as trade violations, creating economic and political pressure for their repeal and even putting the U.S. government on the hook for billions of dollars in damages.Food Laberling

Given the urgency of climate change and the fact that the TPP would lock in rules of commerce and energy development for nearly 40% of the world's economy with profound climate implications, I have pushed for inclusion of strong language that would ensure TPP advances efforts to reduce greenhouse gasses and does not impede future climate deals or worsen our climate problems. Unfortunately, Republicans and fossil fuel interests succeeded in removing any reference to climate change from the draft TPP and prevent it and any future trade agreements from addressing climate change.

I cannot support fast-tracking a trade package that sidelines the United States from using our trade leverage to make progress on climate change, gives Malaysia a pass on human trafficking, gives Vietnam a pass on its atrocious treatment of workers, and allows the potential dismantling of bedrock laws like the Dodd-Frank financial reforms, the Clean Water Act, or California's world-leading Global Warming Solutions Act.

For all of these reasons, I oppose the proposed TPP trade package and joined more than 200 colleagues from both parties in voting "no" on Trade Promotion Authority. While the measure narrowly passed the House, the defeat of a related bill has stopped the TPP package for now. There will undoubtedly be further attempts to pass this package of bills this summer, so stay tuned.

Source: Jared Huffman, California Congressional Representative