JEFF SESSIONS one stave Wnited States Senate ve WASHINGTON, Dc 20510-0104 June 22, 2015 Dear Republican Colleague: A final Senate cloture vote on fast-track authority will take place tomorrow morning, More than a month will have passed since the Senate last held a fast-track vote on May 22", Since that time, a great deal of new information has come to light that was not widely known four weeks ago. For instance, in June, the President publicly declared that China might join the Trans- Pacific Partnership, and that he would use the agreement to advance his plans for international climate regulation and “governance.” Additionally, we also know that hoped-for commitments and ifnprovements to fast-track did not materialize — such as a clear, enforceable prohibition on using trade agreements to establish immigration procedures, or the inclusion of currency reforms, This is not a repeat vote. It is a new vote, based on new facts and new circumstances, along with a new appreciation of the enormity of the plans being advanced. ¢ _Itis now clear that the President hopes to see not one, but three, intemational compacts advanced through fast-track: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the ‘Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA). Collectively, these agreements could encompass 75 to 95% of Global GDP. All three agreements remain secret to the public, while TTIP and TiSA remain secret to lawmakers as well. Yet fast-track would authorize the President to sign all three — before Congress votes ~ and to then send Congress implementing legislation that conforms U.S. law to the agreements. No fast-tracked agreement has ever been blocked, in part because the implementing legislation cannot be amended, cannot be filibustered, cannot be debated for more than 20 hours, and cannot be subjected to the 2/3rds treaty vote, Fast-Track would therefore implement thousands of pages of rules concerning up to 9/10ths of the world’s economy with less Congressional scrutiny than provided to a Post Office reform bill * TISA, which includes more than 50 nations, seeks as one ofits goals the mobility of foreign workers among member nations, which include Turkey and Pakistan. The European Commission further states that “TiSA is open to all WTO members who ‘want to open up trade in services. China and Uruguay have asked to join the talks. The EU supports their applications because it wants as many countries as possible to join the agreement.” TiSA, according to the Commission, will be modeled on the “General Agreement on Trade in Services” (GATS) which has already had the effect of preventing the United States from making desired visa reforms. If fast-track is adopted it will grease the skids for TiSA, which will restrict the sovereign right of the United States to exercise control over its visa programs.‘The Australian Trade Minister has unintentionally debunked the idea that TPP is ‘somehow only in the planning stages. Minister Andrew Robb declared last week that: “We are literally one week of negotiation away fom completing this extraordinary deal across 12 countries and 40 per cent of the world's GDP.” Some Members of Congress conditioned their votes on assurances that the Administration would form the agreement based on the vague, non-binding “negotiating objectives” in Fast- Track. Those promises are now broken. Since the Senate last voted, the Ways and Means Committee has conceded that TPP can be rewritten by the member nations after it’s adopted. TPP launches a TPP Commission where each country gets one vote. Because TPP is a “Living Agreement,” this commission will be empowered to update the agreement on a regular basis. Presumably, the President would implement most of the Commission's regulatory edicts by executive action, bypassing Congress entirely; however, in the circumstances where the President brings these new rulings to Congress, they would receive expedited, fast-tracked consideration. According to Ways and Means: “if a proposed change to a trade agreement is contemplated [by the TPP Commission] that ‘would require a change in U.S. law, all of TPA’s congressional notification, consultation, and transparency requirements would apply.” In other words, Ways and Means is suggesting that this new secret Pacific Union would have legislative primacy, sending changes to the House and Senate that could not be amended, filibustered, or debated for more than 20 hours. An aggressive President could use this procedure to great effect. On June 3", nearly two weeks after the Senate voted, President Obama made clear the kinds of regulations this Commission would be producing, saying “climate change” would be “one of my highest priorities.” A quotation since discovered from the President’s trade representative, Michael Froman, leaves no doubt: “we will insist on a robust, fully enforceable environment chapter in the TPP or we will not come to agreement...our proposals would enhance international cooperation and create new opportunities for public participation in environmental governance and enforcement...the United States reiterated our bedrock position on enforceability of the entire environment chapter...” In that same interview, the President said China could join the agreement (this could even be done without a vote of Congress). As reported by Politico: “A central part of Obama’s pitch for the trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership has been that it would prevent China from making the rules in the region. But in an interview set for broadcast Wednesday evening on public radio's ‘Marketplace,’ Obama said that China is showing interest joining the agreement. ‘They've already started putting out feelers about the possibilities of them participating at some point,’ Obama told host Kai Ryssdal. Those feelers, he added, are being directed ‘to us, to Jack Lew, the Treasury secretary.'”‘© Almost 7 weeks have passed since I wrote the president to ask for any studies that, evaluate TPP’s net impact on jobs, wages and trade deficits. To this day, he has refused to provide Congress this information. This alone should compel Congress to deny cloture until answers are given. ‘The Wall Street Journal, for instance, cited a study estimating that, under TPP, our transportation trade deficit, mostly cars, would grow another $23 billion, destroying U.S. auto jobs. That is because, by all accounts ‘TPP has not even attempted to serve as a reciprocal trade deal: it will open our markets to new foreign imports while allowing our trading partners to maintain their non-tariff barriers to our exports ~ producing higher trade deficits and fewer net manufacturing jobs in the U.S. Indeed, the recent standalone agreement with South Korea, opposite predictions, nearly doubled our trade deficit with them. ‘There are only 2 major economies in TPP with whom the United States does not have existing FTA’s: Japan and Vietnam. Wouldn’t it make more sense to enter bilateral agreements with these countries, processed under regular order, than fast-tracking the creation of vast new global regulatory commission with powers extending far beyond trade? All of this information gives us more than enough basis to slow down, and not fast-track anything until all of our questions are answered. Conservatism demands caution: can any of us honestly say to our constituents that we understand the full implications of the TPP, TTIP and TiSA agreements that will be preapproved for adoption? We should be inherently skeptical of ‘grand designs, too complex to oversee, whose creators can provide no specifies yet pledge utopian results. ‘As conservatives, we should look before we leap. We have a second chance to get answers, but ‘we will only get them if cloture is not invoked. Sincerely,