Posted on 06/13/2015 4:07:12 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Senator Cruz entirely understands the widespread suspicion of the President. Nobody has been more vocal in pointing out the President’s lawlessness or more passionate about fighting his usurpation of congressional authority.
Senator Cruz would not and will not give President Obama one more inch of unrestricted power.
There have been a lot of questions and concerns about the ongoing Pacific trade negotiations. Many of those concerns, fueled by the media, stem from confusion about Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) and the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Let’s unpack the issues one by one.
What are TPA and TPP?
TPA stands for Trade Promotion Authority, also known as “fast track”. TPA is a process by which trade agreements are approved by Congress. Through TPA, Congress sets out up-front objectives for the Executive branch to achieve in free trade negotiations; in exchange for following those objectives, Congress agrees to hold an up-or-down vote on trade agreements without amendments. For the past 80 years, it has proven virtually impossible to negotiate free-trade agreements without the fast-track process.
TPP stands for Trans-Pacific Partnership. TPP is a specific trade agreement currently being negotiated by the United States and 11 other countries, including Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. China is not a negotiating partner. There is no final language on TPP because negotiations are still ongoing and have been since late 2009. Neither the Senate nor the House has voted yet on the TPP. There will be no vote on TPP until the negotiations are over and the final agreement is sent to Congress.
Some Key Facts:
•Neither the Senate nor the House has voted yet on the TPP. •Congress is the only entity that can make U.S. law and nothing about TPP or TPA could change that. •TPA gives the Congress more control up-front over free trade agreements. •TPA mandates transparency by requiring all trade agreements (including TPP) to be made public for at least 60 days before the Congress can act on them.
Does TPA give up the Senate’s treaty power?
No. Under the Constitution, there are two ways to make binding law: (1) through a treaty, ratified by two-thirds of the Senate, or (2) through legislation passed by a majority of both Houses of Congress. TPA employs the second constitutional path, as trade bills always have done. It has long been recognized that the Constitution’s Origination Clause applies to trade bills, requiring the House of Representatives’ involvement.
Does the United States give up Sovereignty by entering into TPP?
No. Nothing in the agreement forces Congress to change any law. TPA explicitly provides that nothing in any trade agreement can change U.S. law. Congress is the only entity that can make U.S. law, and Congress is the only entity that can change U.S. law. Nothing about TPP or TPA could change that.
Does Senator Ted Cruz support TPP?
Senator Cruz has not taken a position either in favor or against TPP. He will wait until the agreement is finalized and he has a chance to study it carefully to ensure that the agreement will open more markets to American-made products, create jobs, and grow our economy. Senator Cruz has dedicated his professional career to defending U.S. sovereignty and the U.S. Constitution. He will not support any trade agreement that would diminish or undermine either.
Does Senator Ted Cruz support TPA?
Yes. Senator Cruz voted in favor of TPA earlier this year because it breaks the logjam that is preventing the U.S. from entering into trade deals that are good for American workers, American businesses, and our economy. Ronald Reagan emphatically supported free trade, and Senator Cruz does as well. He ran for Senate promising to support free trade, and he is honoring that commitment to the voters.
Free trade helps American farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers; indeed, one in five American jobs depends on trade, in Texas alone 3 million jobs depend on trade. When we open up foreign markets, we create American jobs.
TPA also strengthens Congress’ hand in trade negotiations, and provides transparency by making the agreement (including TPP) public for at least 60 days before the Congress can act on any final agreement. Without TPA, there is no such transparency, and the Congress’ role in trade agreements is weaker.
Is TPA Constitutional?
TPA and similar trade authority has been upheld by the Supreme Court as constitutional for more than 100 years.
Does TPA give the President more authority?
No. TPA ensures that Congress has the ability to set the objectives up-front for free trade agreements.
Trade Promotion Authority has been used to reduce trade barriers since FDR. When Harry Reid took over the Senate, he killed it. History demonstrates that it is almost impossible to negotiate a free-trade agreement without TPA. Right now without TPA, America is unable to negotiate free-trade agreements, putting the United States at a disadvantage to China, which is taking the lead world-wide. It is not in America’s interests to have China writing the rules of international trade.
Moreover, Obama is going to be president for just 18 more months. TPA is six-year legislation. If we want the next president (hopefully a Republican) to be able to negotiate free-trade agreements to restart our economy and create jobs here at home then we must reinstate TPA. With a Republican president in office, Senate Democrats would almost certainly vote party-line to block TPA, so now is the only realistic chance.
How can Senator Cruz trust Obama?
He doesn’t. Not at all. No part of Senator Cruz’s support for TPA was based on trusting Obama. However, under TPA, every trade deal is still subject to approval by Congress. If the Obama Administration tries to do something terrible in a trade agreement, Congress can vote it down. And most congressional Democrats will always vote no—because union bosses oppose free trade, so do most Democrats—which means a handful of conservative congressional Republicans have the votes to kill any bad deal. That’s a serious check on presidential power.
Isn’t TPP a “living agreement”?
That particular phrase—a foolish and misleading way to put it—is found in the “summary” portion of one particular section of the draft agreement. That section allows member nations to amend the agreement in the future, expressly subject to the approval of their governments. Thus, if some amendment were proposed in the future, Congress would have to approve it before it went into effect.
But isn’t TPA a secret agreement?
No, it is not. The full text of TPA (fast track) is public. What the Senate just voted for was TPA, not TPP.
Right now, the text of TPP is classified. That is a mistake. Senator Cruz has vigorously called on the Obama administration to make the full text of TPP open to the public immediately. The text being hidden naturally only fuels concerns about what might be in it. Senator Cruz has read the current draft of TPP, and it should be made public now.
Critically, under TPA, TPP cannot be voted on until after the text has been public for 60 days. Therefore, everyone will be able to read it long before it comes up for a vote.
Couldn’t Obama use a trade agreement to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants?
No. There is one section of TPP that concerns immigration, but it affects only foreign nations—the United States has explicitly declined to sign on to that section.
Moreover, Senator Cruz introduced a TPA amendment to expressly prohibit any trade deal from attempting to alter our immigration laws.
Two Republican Senators (Lindsey Graham and Rand Paul) blocked the Senate’s consideration of that amendment, but the House of Representatives has agreed to include that language in the final text of the trade legislation. Thus, assuming the House honors that public commitment, federal law will explicitly prohibit any trade deal from impacting immigration.
And, regardless, no trade agreement can change U.S. law; only Congress can change U.S. law.
Every citizen, and every officer of government who is required by Article Six to take the oath, has to determine constitutionality. If they won't, they are either a poor citizen, or a sworn officer who cannot possibly keep the oath and provide appropriate checks and balances within our form of government.
"Constitutions are not designed for metaphysical or logical subtleties, for niceties of expression, for critical propriety, for elaborate shades of meaning, or for the exercise of philosophical acuteness or judicial research. They are instruments of a practical nature, founded on the common business of human life, adapted to common wants, designed for common use, and fitted for common understandings."-- Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States
"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."
-- Abraham Lincoln
So we have a situation wher if a candidate isn’t 100% on every single issue then they are total garbage?
Cruz is out front on everything he is about, he IMO is as good as it gets folks.
but that power was usurped in Marbury v. Madison.
Actually, modern lawyers arrive at that conclusion based on the complete twisting of one single sentence in Marbury. But there are paragraphs and paragraphs and paragraphs in the decision that say the exact opposite. The bottom line and summing up of Marbury vs. Madison is that the Court has to follow the Constitution, no matter what anyone else in any other branch may or may not do, and so do the other branches. Period.
Yup. Funny how nobody is repeatedly posting the video of Scott Walker encouraging republicans to vote for it.
http://dailysurge.com/2015/06/ugh-scott-walker-to-republicans-vote-for-fast-track-on-tpp/
I was an early Cruz supporter.
No More! He showed his true colors by wanting to approve another “Don’t know what’s in it until we pass it” laws.
WHY does the bill need to remain secret until it’s passed?
ANYBODY who thinks secrecy is good is either evil or a traitor. PERIOD.
Cruz just turned into the GOP Nancy Pelosi
OK, so the fact that sworn officers of government (Supremes) have deemed these congressional-executive trade agreements to be constitutional, plus the fact that our elected, and sworn, representatives have continued to agree to and implement these agreements, means that they're constitutional, no?
By We the People do you mean congress? Or are you arguing for a national popular vote referendum on these issues?
Frankly, neither of those options sound like what the framers had in mind.
No. It means they say it is.
But they also say that denying equal protection to the sixty million or so helpless, innocent little children who have been butchered in the abortuaries since 1973 is constitutional too.
Is it?
Abortion destroys the natural law moral principles of the Declaration of Independence, our national charter, every single clause of the stated purposes of the U.S. Constitution, and the explicit, imperative equal protection requirements in two Amendments to that supreme law of our land, and the equal protection requirements of all of our state constitutions.
Who am I to believe, judges and politicians, or my Bible, the Declaration of Independence, and my own copy of the Constitution?
Bttt
You've provided no practical way to resolve these conflicts. I guess I could rely on you and your application of the Bible's lessons to today's international trade relationships, but somehow I think the founders had a more rigorous approach in mind.
Are you insane? No it means WE THE PEOPLE.
Or are you arguing for a national popular vote referendum on these issues?
No I am arguing for following the constitution. There is no provision in the Constitution for a federal referendum.
Ultimately it comes down to you. Are you willing to allow congress to violate the constitution or are you willing to throw the bums out and replace them with people who will.
I don't think your way, which is the acceptance of arbitrary, obviously unconstitutional absurdities, just because judges and politicians say so, is practical at all. In fact, it's about as impractical as it can get, because that, more than any other thing, is destroying this once-free republic.
I donated to Cruz awhile back, this past week I received his PATHETIC email on how much he has sacrificed by running and being in office. What a wimpy crybaby email. I replied that if it is too tough on him he should stop. He should resign, go home. My response to the email was obviously not the only one because then I received a follow up from his wife. The emails were all automated, of course, his wife really did not send me a follow up. I once again said that if it was all too tough to quit and I said I no longer supported him because of his stance on this trade garbage. Then I told them to take me off his email list. Adios bud.
Ted Cruz is to a presidential candidate what Trey Gowdy is to someone that gets something done. Ted is a disappointment and Gowdy is a yapping toothless dog.
As far as Heidi she works for Goldman, evil prick$.
As a free trader, I think Ted is dead wrong on this.
So we have a situation wher if a candidate isn’t 100% on every single issue then they are total garbage?
Cruz apologists take note: Keep insulting those opposed to the TPP steaming pile while Cruz pulls his McConnell two step on TPA/TPP and you can forget Cruz being the GOP nominee. This isn’t how you win back supporters wounded by this double cross.
Thanks for posting this release from the Ted Cruz Crew —
I greatly admire Senator Sessions but I trust Ted Cruz.
Why? Because always tells the truth and does what he says he will do.
Ted did not have to go on two radio interviews followed by his press release. All of the other candidates in one form or fashion has come out in favor of TPA (TPP is not even in the discussion).
Here is Senator Rand Paul - October 2014.
Rand Paul to Obama: Finish TPP Trade Deal: “Instead of just talking about a so-called ‘pivot to Asia,’ the Obama administration should prioritize negotiating the” TPP.
By Zachary Keck
October 28, 2014
http://thediplomat.com/2014/10/rand-paul-to-obama-finish-tpp-trade-deal/
And I am certain I can find similar statements from Governor Perry.
Sure, there are the weather vane candidates who stick their wet finger in the air and change according to the prevailing wind.
Why else do I trust Cruz versus Senator Sessions?
Because Ted Cruz knows his way around the US Constitution like few others. Ted has successfully argued 6 landmark cases before the Supreme Court:
U.S. sovereignty against the UN and the World Court in Medellin v. Texas;
• The Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms;
• The constitutionality of the Texas Ten Commandments monument;
• The constitutionality of the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance;
• The constitutionality of the Texas Sexually Violent Predator Civil Commitment law; and
• The Texas congressional redistricting plan.
In the “UN and the World Court in Medellin v. Texas” case, Ted defended won against the George W. Bush administration on US and state sovereignty. Medellin involved a Mexican who entered the US, raped and murdered two young girls.
The Bush administration wanted the case tried through the World Court. Cruz successfully protected our Country against the right to adjudicate the case outside the US.
So, when it comes to protecting our Nation’s sovereigny. When it comes to knowing the US Constitution backwards and forwards, I defer not to Senator Sessions but to Senate Ted Cruz — hopeful our next POTUS
Cruz doesn’t want to approve a secret deal. He wants the admin to release the details now. TPA insures that the full bill be disclosed 60 days before it is voted on.
Every person who works for Goldman is an evil person?
I commend any candidate and his loved ones who is willing to run the gauntlet in seeking the presidency. I used to travel a great deal in an early job and being away from loved ones and living out of a suitcase is not pleasant.
So, when I read that letter, I could easily identify with it.
As for Ted’s wife, Heidi, she is being unfairly slandered.
“There has also been some rumblings regarding Heidi supposedly working for the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Heidi never “worked” for the CFR, but she was a “term member” of the CFR (one of 4,500 members, I might add). She is NO LONGER involved with CFR but she did participate in a Task Force on the topic of free trade under the Bush administration. However, as a member of this task force, she vigorously defended and called for free-market principles.
“Economic prosperity and a world safe from terrorism and other security threats are no doubt inextricably linked. While governments play an invaluable role in both regards, we must emphasize the imperative that economic investment be led and perpetuated by the private sector. There is no force proven like the market for aligning incentives, sourcing capital, and producing results like financial markets and profit-making businesses.” (Emphasis added).
Lest anyone question where Sen Cruz stands on CFR, his record has been UNEQUIVOCAL that he believes CFR has been a pernicious force trying to undermine U.S. sovereignty – something Sen. Cruz has spent years fighting to defend. Indeed, Sen. Cruz has a proven record of fighting to defend U.S. sovereignty.”
http://granitegrok.com/blog/2015/05/fact-or-fiction-the-world-according-to-sen-ted-cruz
TPA is a fast track to TPP... Many of us who oppose TPA know this. TPA is a bill you can read. TPP is an agreement Obama is negotiating that will destroy our sovereignty.... We only know this because of true patriots like Sessions... We cannot read TPP. Slippery slope. I like Cruz , but he is wrong on this one.
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