While the media was focused on Chris Christie and “Bridge-gate”, Congress moved closer to accepting a massive, international trade agreement. On Thursday, a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators proposed legislation to give the Obama Administration the power to fast-track the Trans Pacific Partnership and other controversial trade deals. The White House welcomed the fast-track proposal, and issued a statement saying, “We need to use every tool we have to knock down trade barriers.”

If this legislation passes, the President could push through the TPP and other deals, and Congress would only get an up or down vote on whether or not to approve them. The TPP is the largest of these proposed deals, as it includes the U.S. and 11 Pacific Rim nations, and nearly all of its provisions have been negotiated in secret. The few sections of the TPP that have been leaked have exposed the danger of this trade deal – to our jobs, our environment, our civil rights, and even our national sovereignty. This massive trade agreement would even allow mega-corporations to challenge U.S. regulations that stand in the way of their unending greed.

We don't need free trade, which drives down wages and sends more American jobs over seas, we need fair trade. And, we certainly don't need to give corporations any more power to put profit over people. Congress must never give up their power to debate and amend trade agreements, and they must stop the Trans Pacific Partnership from destroying our jobs, our civil rights, and our national sovereignty.