To: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA-1), Sen. Sherrod Brown (OH-1), and Sen. Bernard Sanders (VT-2)
.@BernieSanders: Lead a Talking Filibuster Against Fast Track
Just Foreign Policy
We urge Vermont Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders to lead a “talking filibuster” against Fast Track trade legislation in the Senate. We urge Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Sherrod Brown to support Sanders’ talking filibuster against Fast Track.
Why is this important?
On Thursday, June 18, with mostly Republican votes, the House passed a fast-track trade bill that would attempt to pre-approve the job-killing, environment-destroying, medicine price-raising Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, a week after a Democratic rebellion blocked the proposal in the House. Now the fate of this proposal lies before the Senate. The proposal will be blocked in the Senate if 41 Senators vote against “cloture” to proceed to a vote – that is, if 41 Senators support a “filibuster.”
Populist champions Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Sherrod Brown have led the fight in the Senate against this proposal. Now we need them to pull out the stops. A “talking filibuster” – where Senators hold the floor, speaking against Fast Track - would galvanize public opposition to the bill. It would be a televised national town hall on how our current trade policies are worsening extreme inequality, undermining democracy and human rights, and giving more wealth and power to the 1% at the expense of broad public interests.
Urge Senator Sanders to lead a talking filibuster against Fast Track by signing our petition.