Posted on 01/25/2016 7:59:46 AM PST by xzins
While he's not making an official endorsement for the presidency in 2016's GOP primary, at least not yet, Sen. Jeff Sessions is calling on the people of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina to very carefully pick a candidate they think can "negotiate better" when it comes to trade deals.
He laid out the case for why Republicans must nominate a candidate who opposes the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the accompanying two global trade deals that would come with it: The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) and the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA). All three deals, along with the fast-track Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) that greases the skids for the eventual easy passage through Congress of each of the deals since TPA lowers the Senate's 60-vote threshold to just 51 votes and kills the ability for amendments, have become collectively known as "Obamatrade."
President Obama's administration has since released the full text of TPP but the administration is holding the deal back for now, presumably waiting to formally introduce ratification legislation to Congress until a timeframe that would allow them to time it so that a vote in Congress would come up during a lame duck session after the November 2016 elections.
"There's no doubt that the pro-TPP people understood that there was a strong and growing opposition to this agreement," Sessions told Breitbart.
It's worth noting that 2016 GOP frontrunner billionaire Donald Trump has made this type of trade policy Sessions is talking about a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. While Sessions isn't endorsing anyone at this time officially, he has appeared with Trump at a Trump campaign rally in Alabama earlier this election and also held a meeting with him at the U.S. Capitol during the campaign. Sessions also helped Trump with his immigration reform plan.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Okay, since you want to make such a big deal about this, answer me some questions:
What exactly is your understanding of what TPA does and why EXACTLY do you oppose it?
How long do you think such "fast-track" legislation has been around?
Exactly how do you think Trump would get any of his "really great deals" done without such "fast-track" authority?
Either Mitch suckered Cruz or it is Kabuki theater.
Neither speak well of Senator Cruz.
He voted NO. When it came to the crucial time, he realized what was going and voted NO. He voted NO. You know, the opposite of yes. And again I say, HE VOTED NO.
This stuck with me....
Trump is not the president.
OBAMA is and who in their right mind would touch this with a ten foot pole with him in office?
Face the facts. Your boy is an economical globalist.
Cruz is no different that GW Bush.
Give the social conservatives what they want and they won’t notice that we are selling the country out from under their feet.
Fully agree.... Sessions is one fine Senator...Donald brought him out at his first rally in Mobile....Sessions doesn’t have the Don’s charisma but i am sure he makes up for it in every other department/immigration.
I certainly concur with you. Sessions has influence and is on the right side of the most urgent issues for us. A Republican president really needs him as a wonderful Majority Leader, in this upside down, watered down, hands down, US Senate.
He voted for cloture which meant it could be brought to the floor. After that his no vote was meaningless.
It is the same thing Susan Collins did on Obamacare.
It is called Kabuki Theater. Vote yes on the important vote and then vote no on the meaningless vote so you can say you voted no.
What exactly is your understanding of what TPA does and why EXACTLY do you oppose it?
How long do you think such “fast-track” legislation has been around?
Exactly how do you think Trump would get any of his “really great deals” done without such “fast-track” authority?
That’s easy. TPA lowers the votes required for passage on BARACK OBAMA’S secret trade treaties to 50. IOW, pass the bill to see what’s in it.
On what basis should conservatives trust the most lawless POTUS in US history, Barack Obama on critically important issues such as a 5,000 page trade treaty?
I eagerly await your response.
He voted NO. When it came to the crucial time, he realized what was going and voted NO. He voted NO. You know, the opposite of yes. And again I say, HE VOTED NO.
Cruz changed his vote a couple hours before the vote and it was assured passsage. The “crucial time” had long since past and during it Cruz was a Yea. Sorry but those are the facts.
How does he plan on a President (and the President’s appointees) doing that without some version of TPA?
A good deal is not a bad deal. TPP is a bad deal.
Any president should be in the business of negotiating good deals, and any Congress should be in the business of disapproving bad deals.
Yes it did get changed. The language is different as is the bill number. That’s why they had to have two more votes after it came out of conference committee.
Whoa, you state that we should not pretend to know what’s in a man’s heart - and I do agree. So why do you guys always project onto Trump ‘what is in his heart/mind’ and
furthermore, what’s in OUR hearts?
Hypocrite
I’ll wait for all the ‘true’ conservatives to start dissing Sessions, if he should make it clear he is in Trump’s corner.
Cloture means an end of debate, not that a bill can be brought to the floor. Motions to proceed to a debate (what brings a bill to the floor) are rarely voted upon, instead being agreed to by unanimous consent. (Which indicates back room deals.)
There were TWO cloture votes on TPA in 2015 because there were two different versions before the Senate. The one that became law was passed through cloture and finally passed to be sent to Obama with Cruz voting NO.
Fast Track, TPA, requires a 60 day notification of the full text of any deal be made public. That part they didn’t change. TPP isn’t going to be passed in secret. In fact, it has been out for more than 60 days and may not even be voted on by this Congress.
So basically, you have no answer to my questions other than to attack. Just as I suspected.
Yes but answer my question. How does he plan on getting a deal through Congress without TPA?
Of course Jeff Sessions is not conservative enough
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