From the audio of Ted Cruz's interview (WRKO Town Hall with Ted Cruz, May 30, 2015, Hour 2), for TPA, the legislation has been 6 years in making. President should have an authority to negotiate the trade deal until it is finalized, then send the bill to the Congress for up-or-down vote with no amendment. (Otherwise, President has to go back and re-negotiate. How long will it take to get it done? That's why it is called “Fast Track”)
In response to people who are afraid that he voted to give more power to Obama, he said that he didn't trust Obama at all. Obama won't be in the office in 19 months. He looked into the future for the next president to have an authority to negotiate. Hopefully, the next president will be a Republican, especially him. Now is the time to get it passed with Democrats. If we wait for the next administration (Republican), Democrats in Congress will vote it down no matter what.
For TPP, he said it was stupid to have the text classified. He READ the TPP. It was relatively a straightforward trade agreement. He didn’t have weeks to study each paragraph closely. Unfortunately, from the past history of the administration’s abuse of power, the secrecy gives the impression that they are hiding something horrible in the bill. Fortunately, under TPA they have to make any trade agreement, including TPP, public for 60 days before the Congress can vote on it. People can study closely at this time. But personally he wanted the text public right now.
Thanks, I’ve listened to that interview quite a few times. Maybe we should ask his spokesman to give us a fuller statement that we can use against those who would de-rail Cruz.