If the strange bed-fellows this TPA and TPP deal is making isn’t enough to convince the public that something is awry in Washington, here’s Paul Ryan channeling Nancy Pelosi on when we get to see the TPP:

“It’s declassified and made public once it’s agreed to,” Ryan said of Obamatrade in Rules Committee testimony on Wednesday during questioning from
Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX).

Establishment Republicans, which now include Paul Ryan, and even Ted Cruz, are on the march in the House to pass Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) or “Fast-Track,” in order to grease the negotiation wheels for the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This would also apply to other trade related agreements President Obama has on his economic agenda. These include Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP). The TPP is open to review for Congressmen in a special room in the Capital. High level staffers are only allowed in the room with a Senator or Representative. All who enter must sign a confidential nondisclosure agreement. The TiSA and T-TIP are completely secret and not available for review at all. These agreements are collectively known as Obamatrade.

Many prominent conservatives, like Charles Krauthammer and Condoleeza Rice, have reminded the public that allowing the president to negotiate in secret through TPA has been a power granted to the executive for more than 80 years in some form or another. It is claimed that this TPA will have many requirements that the president has to include in his final trade agreement that makes this TPA different from previous TPAs. Supposedly, there is no danger in granting TPA in this way because Congress can always say no to the actual agreement. But it’s just not so simple. Once this agreement, which has been hammered out over the course of nearly 10 years, is presented, the pressure to pass the agreement will be immense. Hope that at that point the “free-trade” train can be stopped is far too optimistic. The odds are that there will be no viable opposition to voting down the agreement in its entirety.

While it is good that Obama is looking to promote trade, when we are told that we can find out what’s in the TPP agreement after TPA is passed, that is too reminiscent of the passage of Obamacare. It is specifically because of the fiasco with Obamacare, that the American people should be demanding a new level of transparency in our government. Obamatrade is not an issue dealing with national security – its secrecy is based solely on the desire to set forth controversial positions which the public may find objectionable. It needs to be secret because they don’t want the public to know what they are agreeing to. This secrecy is at best paternalistic, and at worst dangerous to American interests, and should no longer be an accepted procedure in these types of international negotiations.

It will be our own fault if they manage to snooker us again. Fool me once . . . .

UPDATE: Vote to be held on Friday, and estimates on whether the House has the votes.