sign No TPP petition! Mutual gain means regulated trade, not hands off corporate access

Friends of GMO Labeling and Democracy,

The TPP is amping up so we need to, too. (Please share this alert with your family and friends and cohorts.)

5 Congressional Members may yet CAVE and SPONSOR FAST TRACK: PLEASE CALL TOMORROW... THURSDAY! (Friday maybe still relevant)

ACTION SUMMARY
Phone calls needed URGENTLY to the following 5 Democratic Congressmen, whom Pres. Obama will be pressuring to sponsor his Fast Track bill. THE MESSAGE IS:

"Ranking Ways and Means member Sander Levin (D-MI) WILL NOT sponsor Fast Track Legislation. DON'T BE A TRAITOR TO YOUR FELLOW HOUSE DEMOCRATS AND YOUR CONSTITUENTS!! DO NOT SPONSOR OR CO-SPONSOR A FAST TRACK BILL!"

Here are the phone numbers: (your email will bounce if you are not a constituent)
Joseph Crowley, NY 202/225-3965
Ron Kind, WI, 202/ 225 5506
Richard Neal, MA 202/ 225 5601
Greg Meeks, NY 202/ 225 3461
Mike Quigley, IL 202/ 225 4061
Thank you for your help! Lisa Kassner, Label GMOs San Fernando Valley / L.A.

********************************************
EMAIL ALERT FROM LIZ WARREN

Everyone,

See article below, from Alisa Simmons, National Field Director for Public Citizens Global Trade Watch! Don't be fooled - we are not out of the woods. Obama is shopping for a sponsor!
Global Trade Watch has asked me to reach out to you for help!!

We expect a full court press to be put on 3 members of the House Ways and Means Committee and 2 more Obama-loyal House Members in the next couple of days, as the president clamors to find a sponsor for Fast Track legislation. WE MUST NOT GIVE THEM ANYWHERE TO HIDE!!!

We need everybody to make phone calls and send emails to these 5 ASAP!!! (Scroll down for quick links to find and contact these members!) (Note: I'll be starting a petition today to the members below - watch for a link in a later message!)

FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW THE MESSAGE IS:

"Ranking Ways and Means member Sander Levin (D-MI) WILL NOTsponsor Fast Track Legislation. DON'T BE A TRAITOR TO YOUR FELLOW HOUSE DEMOCRATS AND YOUR CONSTITUENTS!! DO NOT SPONSOR OR CO-SPONSOR A FAST TRACK BILL!"

Ways and means committee members to call:
Crowley - NY-14
Kind - WI-03
Neal - MA-01
Other Dems (likely to sponsor) to call:
Meeks - NY-05
Quigley - IL-05

Here's a link to quickly look up each REP and get all contact information: https://www.contactingthecongress.org/

If you have an ANDROID smartphone, you can download the Congress APP from Sunlight foundation here, and in two seconds find each member by committee and just push a button to call them: https://congress.sunlightfoundation.com/

Here's a link to the SAME App for iPhones: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sunlight-congress/id653714985

In Solidarity,
Liz :)

Elizabeth Warren
National TPP Team Coordinator
https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/congress-dont-renew-fast
MoveOn Regional Organizer
North San Diego County

When the people fear the government you have tyranny...when the government fears the people you have liberty.
- Thomas Jefferson

ARTICLE BACKGROUND
Inside US Trade Daily News
TPA Bill May Be Delayed As GOP Calls On Obama To Win House Dem Support
Posted: January 7, 2014
The expected introduction this week of a bill to renew fast-track negotiating authority for the president may be delayed as Republicans press for the White House to secure a House Democrat to co-sponsor the bill.
Congressional aides have said the bill was slated to be introduced tomorrow (Jan. 8) by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), Finance Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (D-MI). But staff for Finance Committee Democrats have not yet received a walkthrough of the bill that they are expecting before introduction, which informed sources say could indicate a delay.

A GOP aide laid the blame squarely on President Obama for any delay in introducing the bill. "If TPA introduction is in jeopardy, it is because not one person from the White House has stepped up to get any House Democrat support," the aide said.

Ways and Means Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) is not supporting the fast-track bill, because his demands for a significant rewrite of the 2002 fast-track version failed to gain traction, as did his demand that a fast-track bill be part of a larger competitiveness package. Some private-sector and congressional sources have speculated that Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) may be a potential candidate for a Democratic cosponsor in the House.

But one private-sector source said that, at this point, neither Kind nor any other Ways and Means Democrat appeared likely to co-sponsor the bill. Doing so would be viewed as undercutting Levin and the House Democratic leadership, sources said.

Any delay in the bill's introduction could also complicate what informed sources say is a quick timeframe that Baucus staff has laid out for Finance committee action on the bill. Sources said Baucus' staff had set the goal of introducing the bill this week, holding a hearing on it next week, and having a markup during the last week of January.

Private-sector sources said this tight timeframe is driven at least in part in by a desire to achieve committee passage of the fast-track bill before Baucus leaves the Senate to become U.S. ambassador to China. President Obama formally sent Baucus's nomination to the Senate today, after announcing his intent to nominate Baucus to the post last month.

But rushing the bill through the Finance Committee is likely to create further opposition from Democrats on the panel, some of whom already have objections to the bills' substance, sources said.
At the same time, another source noted that getting fast track through Finance is likely to be a fight anyway due to objections from other Democrats, so speeding up the process may not change the calculus much for Baucus.

Pamm Larry, LabelGMOs
https://www.labelgmos.org/ LabelGMOs California's Grassroots