TED CRUZ: Sure. There is a lot of confusion, and there’s unfortunately a lot of misinformation that you can get on the internet, that people are confused. So let’s explain what each of those three are. TPA is trade promotion authority. That’s also known as fast track. That is the process through which free trade agreements are negotiated. Historically since FDR, virtually every president has had fast track authority. What fast track provides is simply if a free trade agreement is negotiated, the Congress will vote on it up or down without amendment. And history has demonstrated for the last 80 years that the only way to get free trade agreements adopted is to have fast track, that if there is no fast track, free trade agreements do not end up being negotiated. TPA is what the Senate voted on recently. I voted in favor of fast track, because I support free trade. I think free trade benefits America, it creates jobs, opening markets to our farmers, to our ranchers, to our manufacturers, improves economic growth. In Texas alone, roughly three million jobs depend upon international trade. And if you support free trade, the only way history has shown free trade agreements get negotiated is with fast track. Now there is a second issue that’s caused a great deal of confusion, and that is TPP.
Rush explained the old DC Insider ploy years ago. When so called conservatives actually have the power to stop bad legislation, they vote with the Dems. Then, after the legislation is a done deal, so called conservatives make a big hoopla about voting against it—i.e.: when voting against it has become a meaningless exercise.
The only way TPP could have been stopped would have been to deny Obama fast track. Cruz gave Obama that destructively vast power...and then made a big hoopla about the meaningless votes that followed.