Fast Tracking the TPP? Please. The Internet has spoken.

 

The numbers are in. In the final 10 days of January, over 600,000 Americans called or emailed their member of Congress to demand they stop fast track legislation that would force the TPP into law without proper debate. This is amazing, and would never have happened without the support of people like you.

 

It’s time decision-makers face the facts. The public backlash against the TPP has been huge at home and abroad. Heads of government from participating countries are pushing back (including Japan, New Zealand, and Malaysia, amongst others), and demanding greater public engagement in the TPP negotiations. Even world-renowned economists such as Nobel prize-winning Paul Krugman have come out against the TPP. Writing in The New York Times, Krugman called the agreement, “weirdly out of touch with political and economic reality.”

 

With no end in sight for the TPP, it looks as though defenders of the open Internet will soon have the closest thing to an Internet freedom advocate the U.S. government has in a position of influence. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), who led the fight against the now infamous Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in Congress, will be taking over as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee – quite possibly the most powerful committee in Congress.

 

Why is this important? Any fast track legislation proposed would have to clear the Senate Finance Committee. And, unlike his predecessor Max Baucus, Wyden is staunchly opposed to giving the White House fast track authority– legislation crucial to the TPP passing.

 

So let’s do the math. When you add 600,000 Americans calling or emailing their member of Congress, plus an anti-Fast Track Senate Finance Committee, plus a global backlash to fast-tracking the secretive and extreme Internet censorship plan put forth by the TPP, it becomes much more difficult to imagine a world in which Fast Track legislation is possible.