Sessions Continues TPA Critique: It’s ‘a Diminishment of the Individual Citizens’ Power’
LEVIN: “Well, I’m a little confused, Senator Sessions. We’re supposed to be a republic. We’re supposed to have the consent of the governed. That doesn’t mean majoritarianism or pluralism, but it at least means these damn big bills, whether they’re budget bills or ObamaCare or fast track, what’s the problem? Can’t we the people who have to live under these schemes at least have a look at them?”
SESSIONS: “Absolutely, we must insist on that. Particularly when you’re dealing with not just a trade agreement, which TPP is supposed to be, but it has the creation of international commissions. It has all the earmarks of how the European Union got started. And it transfers American sovereignty, that the sultan of Brunei gets the same vote as the President of the United States, and they can pass all kinds of things that could bind Americans in a lot of different ways. And as you know fundamentally, we don’t have any control over them. We can’t vote out the sultan of Brunei. This is a diminishment of the individual citizens’ power. It is a transfer to this President, and to an international organization that we have no reason to believe will serve our interests.”