Senator Warren Urges Congress to Reject TPP Agreement
Video of remarks here
Text of remarks here (PDF)
Washington, DC – United States Senator Elizabeth Warren delivered remarks on the floor of the Senate this evening urging her colleagues not to approve the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, which representatives from all twelve participating countries are set to sign later this week in New Zealand.
"Most of the TPP is about letting multinational corporations rig the rules - on everything from patent protection to food safety standards - all to benefit themselves," said Senator Warren in her remarks. "The first clue about who the TPP helps is who wrote it. Twenty-eight trade advisory committees were formed to whisper in the ear of our trade negotiators-to urge them to move this way or that in the negotiations. Who are the special, privileged whisperers? Eighty-five percent are senior corporate executives or industry lobbyists. Many of the committees - including those on chemicals and pharmaceuticals, aerospace equipment, textiles and clothing, and financial services - are one hundred percent industry representatives."
"The second clue about what's going on is that it all happened behind closed doors... A rigged process produces a rigged outcome. When the people whispering in the ears of our negotiators are mostly top executives and lobbyists for the biggest corporations - and when the public is shut out of the negotiating process -the final deal tilts in favor of corporate interests," the senator said.
Watch Senator Warren's speech here, and read a PDF copy of the speech here.
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