Ted Cruz 2016 : TPA Senate Vote Good : TPA is NOT Secret Agrement (TPA & TPP Different) : 2015-06-12

Texas Supporting Senator Ted Cruz ^ | 2015-06-12 | Toby Marie Walker

[Patton@Bastogne]

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A Note to Conservatives on Trade Agreements


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 2the 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. [LINK to release.]

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.









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[Leto]

Cruz stated his position clearly and honestly.

I support him given his explanation.

[Gaffer]

More dissembling. How about the conditions TPA places on this now public TPP. 1) Can’t amend it, 2) pass it in the Senate takes 51 votes, vote it down takes 60 votes.

Also, the President is ‘bound’ to negotiate the agreement with Congress......exactly when did he ever negotiate anything with a Congress, a Congress controlled by both sides. It just ain’t gonna happen.

I’ve laid out my concerns here and in prior posts pretty succinctly. This whole mess stinks to high heaven. The fact that Cruz supports this coupled with my history of support for him makes me feel pretty uneasy about his candidacy. This debacle is bad for this country right now. We are not in such a dire situation that this concoction of appeasement has to be passed while this tyrant is President. All of this can wait.

Lastly, even though I am Cruz supporter, I refuse to carry the water for a bad decision because some big business donors see TPA/TPP as a way to keep their profits up.

[BlatherNaut]

TPP destroys our national sovereignty and it bypasses the Constitution’s treaty provisions. TPA puts TPP on the fast track to almost certain approval. What more does any patriot need to know?

Bears repeating.

[P-Marlowe]

I’m glad Cruz showed his true colors before I sent his campaign any money.

Well it's too late for me.

Do they give refunds?

[EternalVigilance]

Anyone who is really serious about opposition to legislation votes against anything that forwards that legislation.

Senators perfected the art of having phony votes to give members of their exclusive club political cover.

But their cover has worn thin.

We the People are on to them.

Once the marks have had someone explain to them how the conman works his scam the scam quits working.

[RitaOK]

Correction. Cruz understands that trade agreements are historically developed in secret and kept secret, so he can’t intelligently say he opposes secrecy per se, but probably opposes the actual parts of the whole that are kept secret.

The only charitable excuse I can come up with, to offer our candidates, is that they are on the road too much to know wth this trade authority and the subsequent trade agreement actually means.

If Jeff Sessions is on to something, our candidates need to pay heed and rethink this dog.

[Gaffer]

I don’t, and I don’t want the Congress to legitimize potential Obama acts that he could make as Executive under EO’s, frankly. The difference with TPA/TPP and future pacts is that the bar is too high to defeat them and no chance of amendment. Once passed, they become law. EOs doing the same thing which he could have done anyway are not and can be undone.

At this point I still support him, but I don’t accept his explanation.

[xzins]

How can Senator Jeff Sessions see exactly the same papers and deals and say it says the exact opposite of what Cruz is saying?

How can this be seen 180 degrees apart?

Why not refuse to pass this now, let the public look at the documents, and let us decide for ourselves?

Or can supportsers of this TPA/TPP point to a link where this is in the public domain?

[Junk Silver]

“TPA is fully public and Cruz opposes the secrecy of TPP and wants that to be fully public when it’s voted on sometime in the future.”

And I can keep my Doctor and health plan too, right?

The TPA is a battering ram that makes inevitable the passage of the TPP. “Wants it to be fully public when it’s voted on?” So we can know what’s in it after we pass it? Sorry - been there - done that.

Cruz might as well pack it in. The only hope of his campaign was to energize people like me, and he just f***ed me over.

[cripplecreek]

Go vote for one of the other supporters of it who are lying to you about it but leave me out of your idiotic rants.

[Soul of the South]

“I would add this: The inability of the lower, uneducated classes to move out of poverty because the stepping stones to a middle class income have been destroyed by exporting manufacturing jobs.”

I agree with you on the loss of economic and social mobility for undereducated, unskilled people. Historically taking on an unskilled job in a manufacturing plant, working hard, and being given training for higher skill jobs was a road to the middle class for millions of disadvantaged young people.

Also add the destruction of many small towns in rural America dependent on a single large or several small manufacturing operations. When the manufacturing is exported, the town’s economy is decimated and town residents become dependent on government social services. Drug addiction and crime follow breaking down the community’s social order. The community tax base erodes as inordinate social costs are added. These are all costs of free trade which the free traders are unwilling to acknowledge.

[RitaOK]

Look, it seems we’re getting a lot of postings taken right off the campaign websites, or, by campaign staff, state delegates and party operatives.

When these sources address Jeff Sessions warnings directly, then we might have a discussion.

( Jeff isn’t running for president and has long proven to be a sound measure of truth and fiction.)

[xzins]

Where is the public copy of the bill?

If you can’t find it, then this is a back room deal, and we’re being asked to trust.

Well...I DON’T trust them.

[Enlightened1]

This is what it is along with the TPP,

FAST-TRACK WITHOUT PUBLIC CONSENT...

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/244745-trade-vote-survives-scare-in-rule-vote

Will Cede Immigration Powers To ‘Unelected Corporations And Foreign Governments’...

http://www.epi.org/blog/tisa-a-secret-trade-agreement-that-will-usurp-americas-authority-to-make-immigration-policy/

SESSIONS: ‘Elites Who Dream Of Writing Rules In Foreign Capitals’...

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/06/11/jeff-sessions-issues-final-critical-alert-obamatrade-just-like-amnesty-obamacare/

[Uncle Miltie]

Excellent post and position, except:

“Does TPA give the President more authority? No.”

I don’t believe that. My understanding is that TPA gives 0bama the right to negotiate in as much anti-American language as he can get past the Senate in an up or down vote. No Amendments.

The TPA’s restriction against amendments EMPOWERS 0bama. So I think this part is disingenuous.

But I’m glad Cruz took the whole thing head-on. It’s an otherwise reasonable and (IMHO) unassailable position.

I’m still a supporter. I don’t see a better candidate. If this one bad judgment is the only black mark, Cruz is the best conservative there is.

[cuban leaf]

In the future (and it is already happening now), manufacturing will go to the country with the best tax environment for business. Few human jobs will be affected by manufacturing.

When you pay $400 for a little box with a CD in it in order to get a piece of software, how many jobs do you think it took to produce that? The money is going to the marketers, the developers, the management, the project managers, the attorneys, the tax accountants, etc. There isn’t much of a “factory floor” for such items, and most of that is automated.

And most of those jobs can be plopped down on any piece of real estate on the planet, even Antarctica. There is a reason Boeing moved its headquarters to Chicago from Seattle. And GE is moving to Texas.

There is a simple way to keep REAL jobs in the US, and manufacturing as an ever shrinking piece of the impact of it.

Most Americans used to work in agriculture. Times change.

[exit82]

http://www.house.gov

I called my congressman today. Did you?

[LS]

Agree with you, and I too am a Cruz supporter, but a very easy rule is, “If Zero wants it, it’s bad for America.”

[biff]

Welp, that is what I meant to say but didn’t, couldn’t or wouldn’t, so thankya.

I am sick of being taken for a sucka and being on the losing side for soooooo many years.

New republican mantra: “Don’t worry, we’ll cut em of at the pass.”

[P-Marlowe]

Look, it seems we’re getting a lot of postings taken right off the campaign websites, or, by campaign staff, state delegates and party operatives.

They know that Cruz killed his campaign by supporting TPA. They are in desperation mode at this time. They are trying to give Cruz cover, but as you can see by the posts on this forum, it ain't working.

Free Republic used to be Cruz Country.

When he does something to lose Free Republic, he has pretty much destroyed any chance he has of being the nominee.

His campaign should be calling him on the carpet rather than trying to give him cover.

This is a bad deal for Americans and a great deal for international corporations and one world government advocates.

OBAMA WANTS THIS PASSED. That should be all the information you need to know to oppose it.