On the recordJune 2, 2015
This amendment is akin to an amendment that was considered just a few moments ago offered by Mr. Meadows. This amendment is meant to address a problem that has arisen with trade agreements that has become visible to all of us as Members of this august body. What has happened is that the Trade Representative, for no apparent legal reason, with no apparent legal authority, has taken it upon himself to negotiate trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership in secret--not entirely in secret, just in secret from us and from members of the American public. The corresponding provision, the TTIP provision, has been posted by the European Union, which is our negotiating partner in this on the Internet. The Trans-Pacific Partnership itself has been negotiated in secret, but that has been posted by WikiLeaks, to the embarrassment of our government in an unnecessary manner. What we have seen over the past several years is that the Trade Representative has turned a deaf ear to our concerns as Members of Congress who must perform our oversight functions whenever we ask for information about what the Trade Representative is doing on behalf of the American people. Three years ago, we had the strange circumstance come up that over 100 Members of Congress, 100 Members of this body, wrote a letter to the Trade Representative saying: We hear you are negotiating something called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Would you please give us a copy? And the answer came back: No.…
