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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Trans-Pacific Partnership: “Too Much Secrecy”

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Wednesday, February 11, 2015   

MADISON, Wis. - The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement critics call "NAFTA on steroids," has been the subject of largely secretive negotiations among the United States and 11 other nations.

What's been leaked about the agreement suggests that it contains huge changes in the way international business is done, said David Newby, president of the Wisconsin Fair Trade Coalition.

"They're very far-reaching and they have an immense effect on our workers and our economy," he said, "and yet they're negotiated in secret, so we have no idea for sure what is actually being talked about."

There is strong speculation now that President Obama will "fast-track" the agreement. Newby said this is bad for a number of reasons - first, because we don't know enough about what's actually in the proposal, and second, because fast-tracking would give all the negotiating power to the president, who then would send it to Congress.

"They can't amend it, they can't make any changes," he said, "and, in fact, debate is limited to 20 hours in the House, 20 hours in the Senate, and then they've got to vote it up or down."

If the Trans-Pacific Partnership was a good idea, Newby said, it would be debated in the open, rather than by process of the secretive talks that have been going on for years.

Supporters say the agreement will be a boon to international trade.

According to Newby, about 600 corporate lobbyists - but not journalists or the public - have access to the documents. He said some of the leaks have led him to believe the agreement would make it more difficult for American workers to compete for international business. He said Vietnam is one of the participating countries.

"The minimum wage in Vietnam is 56 cents an hour," he said. "Now, how can an American workers compete with workers that are making 56 cents an hour, a lot less than workers in China, for example."

Another leaked document outlined a provision where foreign corporations could file charges against the U.S. government for any new standards or regulations that could reduce the foreign company's expected profits - a provision Newby said could chill efforts to curb pollution.

"These suits are not heard in our courts," he said. "They go directly to the World Bank, which appoints a panel of international lawyers; they hear the case, and they have the power to levy unlimited fines against our government if companies find that these new regulations can reduce their profits."


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