Heck needs to take a stand on TPP

Congressman Denny Heck has been saying for months that he doesn’t know anything about the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and he doesn’t need to, because it won’t come to a vote.

But Obama’s actions show that he is determined to bring it to a vote in the Lame Duck session. In a press conference on August 2, Obama said he plans to have the Trans Pacific Partnership come to a vote “after the dust has settled” from the November elections. On the 12th, he put Congress on notice that he will be sending them a bill to implement the treaty.

Denny Heck needs to come out from behind his veil of ignorance and take a stand. Is he for the transnational corporations that will benefit from the TPP, or is he for the citizens whose jobs will be put at risk? Corporations will be more profitable when they have outsourced our jobs to places where wages are lower.

Obama’s claim is that corporations profit when their markets are expanded. Maybe, but those profits do not translate into jobs – only into higher incomes for CEO’s. Higher income for ordinary citizens is what produces jobs.

The TPP puts our national sovereignty at risk. It allows any foreign corporation to challenge our laws if that corporation thinks it will lose money from them.

What doesn’t Denny Heck understand about these facts? What doesn’t he know?

Mr. Heck, where do you stand?

This story was originally published August 24, 2016 at 11:29 AM with the headline "Heck needs to take a stand on TPP."