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Senators Tell White House: Release the Text of the TPP Before Any Vote

In a strong letter to President Obama, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown took on the Administration's charge that critics of the TPP are "dishonest" by claiming that TPP is a secret deal and called on the White House to release the text of the TPP publicly "before asking Congress to vote on Fast Track authority to facilitate the TPP's ratification."

They wrote:

"It is currently illegal for the press, experts, advocates, or the general public to review the text of this agreement. And while you noted that Members of Congress may 'walk over...and read the text of the agreement' – as we have done – you neglected to mention that we are prohibited by law from discussing the specifics of that text in public.

"While experts, the public and the press are not allowed to review the latest draft of the TPP, executives of the country's biggest corporations and their lobbyists already have had significant opportunities not only to read it, but to shape its terms. The Administration's 28 trade advisory committees on different aspects of the TPP have a combined 566 members, and 480 of those members, or 85 percent, are senior corporate executives or industry lobbyists.

"The American people should be allowed to weigh in on the facts of the TPP before Members of Congress are asked to voluntarily reduce our ability to amend, shape or block any trade deal."

Read their full letter here.