Ted Cruz fought heavily in favor of TPA, which makes passage of TPP very easy. Of course, after Ted campaigned and voted for the TPA, he voted against it the second time when his vote to pass it was no longer needed.
It's interesting that Ted is going to fight something that likely wold not have been an issue, if only Ted Cruz had kept his flippin’ mouth shut on the TPA (or had spoken against it).
t’s interesting that Ted is going to fight something that likely wold not have been an issue, if only Ted Cruz had kept his flippin’ mouth shut on the TPA (or had spoken against it)
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Cruz is relatively transparent here. He wanted fast track, and imo, frankly, he only voted against it because he knew it would pass.
Why did he want fast track? Because he believes he’s going to be President— and he wants that streamlined mechanism for his trade deals. (Incidentally, if Trump becomes President, he now will be able to get those renegotiated trade deals he talks about through Congress).
As for TPP, Cruz was never going to support it. Why would he? Why would he pass Obama’s trade deal in 2016, when Cruz could negotiate his own in 2017?
I think Cruz believed that in a Presidentialial election year, all the Dems and their Presidential candidates would be forced to vote against TPP— 5 GOP had already voted against it— so Cruz and a few more conservatives could tank the deal. Intheory, the GOP should not want TPP in2016, when it can be renegotiated by a GOP Pres in 2017.
That was his thinking, I believe.
If true, Obama doesn’t get a trade deal, and the next Rep Pres. has fast track to get his deal through Congress in 2017.