Because, after waiting a minimum of 60 days, during which the final TPP is published and discussed, both houses of Congress must vote it up or down by simple majority. And there are more Republicans than Democrats in both the House and the Senate.
If Zero wants a trade bill in his miserable "legacy", then he'd better negotiate a clean one!
> “Because, after waiting a minimum of 60 days, during which the final TPP is published and discussed, both houses of Congress must vote it up or down by simple majority. And there are more Republicans than Democrats in both the House and the Senate.”
You’re right there are 60 days to review before a simple majority vote can be taken and there are more republicans than democrats.
But that doesn’t answer the question.
The TPP is secret which Senator Cruz says in his town hall Q&As is “STUPID”.
And the TPP is negotiated and now proposed but waiting for TPA so as to avoid Congress from amending it and subjecting it to 60 cloture votes in the Senate.
There are 213 Senate amendments to TPA submitted en bloc as S.Amdt 1221 that are now part of TPA. Many of those 213 amendments may be in conflict with TPP. So either TPP moves forward without TPA in which case it dies or it will need to conform with provisions of TPA.
Now Obama has an army of lawyers who will need to conform TPP with TPA and they will do so. BUT ...
BUT Obama’s lawyers can think up ways to modify TPP while at the same time conforming it to TPA. And what’s to stop the modification from harming American rights and sovereignty?
The question can be cast in a different light:
Are the 213 passed amendments in the TPA ‘complete’ in the sense of preserving American rights and sovereignty?
Are there any weaknesses, gaps, holes that a progressive hard core leftist can find to subvert?
These are the typse of questions for Senator Cruz.