Sen. Cruz wants TPA in force when he assumes office in 2017. This is the only way he can get it, since Democrat senators would filibuster a TPA when he is President. For this, Sen Cruz is willing to forgo the ability to filibuster Obama trade agreements, allowing them to pass with fifty votes plus Biden. The danger is that the immigration provisions in TiSA and some troublesome aspects of TPP might pass by a simple majority this Fall. If Obama thinks that these provisions won’t pass, he could veto TPA or signal Democrats to vote it down in either House. Sen. Cruz is willing to take the TiSA/TPP risk if he can get TPA while he is in office and obviously thinks that the risk is manageable. Cruz and Obama are playing poker. Sen. Cruz doesn’t want to show his hand until TPA is, in his mind hopefully, passed. Only Sen. Warren is sounding the alarm on the Democrat side. Sen. Cruz does not want to add fuel to the fire by engaging on the issue. That is why Sen. Cruz is driving some of his supporters to distraction by refusing to address the issue. He is also temporarily losing conservative bloodhounds like Matt Boyle at Breitbart who are just dong their job by demanding answers.
That sounds like the play of a typical politician.