Rep. DeLauro Complains of USTR Limits on TPP Text Review
U.S. Trade Representative staffers only allowed Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and four other lawmakers, to view some Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiating text on Feb. 26, but the USTR staffers prohibited aides for those lawmakers to also participate in the viewing, said DeLauro in a letter to House colleagues on the following day. DeLauro went to view the text in a secure office on Capitol Hill after railing against TPP pharmaceutical provisions (see 1502270018).
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The documents are marked “confidential,” but not “secret” or “top secret,” said DeLauro, according to the letter, which her office released via email. “Our staffs frequently review confidential documents. In fact, the text we reviewed clearly states on the cover sheet that it can be transmitted over regular email and fax machines,” she said. “It appears that the administration wants members to vote on fast tracking the [TPP] without well-staffed and reviewed information. I want to prevent this from happening.”