House Democrats Lash Into USTR Overture on Transparency

A group of House Democrats criticized a recent U.S. Trade Representative report outlining its transparency measures at an Oct. 29 event on Capitol Hill, urging the Office of USTR to immediately release the legal text for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The lawmakers, led by trade critics Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said Congress and the public must be able to verify the Obama administration’s pitch on TPP. USTR Michael Froman pledged to disclose the text by mid-November (see 1510130021).

The administration, namely USTR and the Agriculture Department, is touting the pact’s merits on a nationwide public relations tour, building support while skeptics and critics aren’t able to investigate the claims, said the lawmakers. That creates a critical advantage for the administration in its pursuit of TPP, they said. “I fear that we are witnessing false advertising,” DeLauro said. “You’ve got to level the playing field. Let’s all have the information that we need in order to be able to ask the right questions and get answers to them.” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka pressured the same in recent days (see 1510140018).

The event took place on a lawn outside the Capitol. Theatrics included Rep. Peter Defazio, D-Ore., dressed in Sherlock Holmes accessories and a bloodhound named Roxy on display by the lectern. The bloodhound was there to “sniff out” the secrecy of TPP, the lawmakers said. A group of people held signs in the backdrop that criticized the alleged secrecy.

The lawmakers rallied just a day after USTR released its guidelines on transparency and consultations with Congress. Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which passed in June, mandated the report 120 days after enactment. In the guidelines (here), USTR vows to brief all members of Congress upon request with “timely” and “detailed” information on trade negotiations and changes to law. “USTR will conduct briefings in the offices of members of Congress or other mutually agreed location, subject to House or Senate security protocols established by the respective Sergeant at Arms of the House and Senate, and the executive branch, regarding the handling of classified information,” said the guidelines.

USTR staffers will consult “intensively” with Ways and Means and Finance Committee members, as well as other committees impacted by trade policy, the guidelines said. The agency pledged to make available trade agreement text proposals and consolidated texts to all members, as well as staffers with appropriate security clearance. Those staffers can now go to the viewings independently, said USTR.

That provisions marks the only new change in the agency’s transparency policy, Doggett said at the Oct. 29 event. The lawmakers rejected the overture outright. “They have printed slick reports [and] glossy documents, but they have yet to show us the jobs or the text,” said DeLauro. “It’s window dressing; it’s meaningless without any text to review … The document is one more way in which they try to demean constitutional authority for all of us to review and authorize these agreements.” Reps. David Cicilline, D-R.I., Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., also attended and spoke at the event. The Democrats said the ongoing threat of industry groups pressuring changes to the text increases the need to unveil it immediately. USTR didn’t respond for comment.

Doggett noted the 18,000 "tax cuts" in the agreement that Froman has routinely touted in remarks to the public since U.S. and TPP partners wrapped up the talks in early October. Many of those duty cuts may not significantly affect U.S. exporters, said Doggett while emphasizing USTR’s lack of disclosure of U.S. concessions. “Nothing seems to be able to change the culture of secrecy that pervades USTR,” he said. “What are the cuts that are being made in duties here that will advantage foreign exporters into our country? All of that is secret.”

But Senate Finance ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a central negotiator in congressional trade policy, applauded the new USTR guidelines. "I’m glad to see that the new transparency standards I fought for are now in effect, affording members of Congress substantially increased oversight by increasing the information our staff can access,” Wyden said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to work with the USTR on implementation of this year’s trade legislation, which included unprecedented new requirements on transparency."

The USTR report also unveils its policy toward public outreach, pledging to keep the public updated through “press releases, fact sheets, blogs, newsletters, reports, social media, in-person briefings, and via conference calls.” The report though said the agency is only obligated to release free trade agreement text 60 days before the president signs the pact, a term specified in TPA. USTR will also notify the public 30 days in advance of initiating FTA talks, it said.