TPP Opponents Take Aim at Pelosi: Let's Build a Firewall of Resistance

Social change network CREDO Action has amplified its call to stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), calling for "an onslaught of grassroots opposition" coupled with a "firewall" of Democratic resistance in the House of Representatives to prevent the trade deal from being rammed through Congress.

In a video released Wednesday, CREDO combines footage of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) speaking out against the TPP, and urges viewers to sign a petition that calls on House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to help stop a "lame-duck" vote on the TPP.

The footage of Clinton is from her joint rally with Sanders on Tuesday, when she got his endorsement.

She says in the video: "And we're going to say no to attacks on working families and no to bad trade deals and unfair trade practices, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership."

The footage of Reid shows the senator saying the TPP "puts us at a disadvantage. So the answer is not only no, but hell no," while Warren--already featured in a separate anti-TPP video released last week by CREDO--says the deal "would tilt the playing field even more in favor of multinational corporations and against working families."

While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said to reporters Tuesday that passage of the TPP was unlikely during the lame duck session, the CREDO petition suggests otherwise, and explains how Pelosi could play a key role. It states:

The supporters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are gearing up for one last push to ram an unprecedented corporate power grab through Congress before President Obama leaves the White House. They are looking to pass the "NAFTA on steroids" after the November election this year during a lame-duck session when members are least accountable to their constituents. [...]

If Leader Pelosi uses her power and influence to encourage other Democrats to take a stand against a lame-duck vote on the TPP, that alone could strike a serious blow against the best chance our opponents have of passing the TPP. [...] But Democratic Leader Pelosi has been surprisingly quiet on this issue. And what she says will have enormous influence on whether Democrats in the House of Representatives band together to ensure there are not enough votes to attempt a lame-duck TPP vote. [...]

While Congress cannot amend or filibuster the TPP, they do still have to vote yes or no on it. Already, some Republicans have come out against this awful deal, so if we are able to confront the big money interests behind this treaty with an onslaught of grassroots opposition, convincing the Democrats in the House to build a firewall, we can win.

As of this writing, the petition has over 60,000 signatures.

Despite widespread opposition to the deal and mobilization by progressive groups, including CREDO, the Democratic Party platform committee last weekend failed to adopt an anti-TPP amendment.