Posted on 06/12/2015 12:41:58 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
Texas Senator and GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) argued Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) “is not giving the president more authority” and that Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is “not accurate” in some of his claims regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on Friday’s broadcast of “The Kuhner Report” on Boston’s WRKO.
Cruz argued that he had been the staunchest opponent of President Barack Obama in Congress. He then separated TPA (Trade Promotion Authority) and the TPP (the Trans-Pacific Partnership). He touched on TPA first, stating that “history has demonstrated, the only way to get a trade agreement adopted is with fast-track. Since FDR, consistently, for 80 years, presidents in both parties have had fast-track. Anytime fast-track has lapsed, trade agreements don’t get negotiated.” He later added that it was a “misunderstanding” to say TPA gave away the Senate’s treaty power. Cruz stated that “Under the Constitution, there are two ways to make binding law. Number one, you can pass a treaty ratified by 2/3ds of the Senate. Or number two, you can pass legislation passed by a majority of both of houses of Congress and signed by the president. … TPA uses the second constitutional path.” And “it’s been long recognized that the Constitution’s Origination Clause applies to trade bills, which means the House of Representatives has to be involved. There’s a reason why trade bills have historically not been done as treaties, because the Constitution says that anything concerning the raising of revenues, and trade bills concern tariffs, which are the raising of revenues, has to originate in the House of Representatives. So, the process of approving a trade agreement through both houses of Congress has been the way it has been done for roughly a century. And it is not giving the president more authority.”
Regarding TPP, Cruz said
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Can you post the bill that is in the “Secret Room”.
Many of us would like to read it.
Sorry your bill failed today.
Maybe your buddy Bonehead can twist some arms and ram it thru like he
did the Cromibus.
In terms of sovereignty/immigration issues Sessions is the most trustworthy.
This means politicians can get away with a lot of things that they couldn't get away with if people knew more and cared more. They may be acting against the interests of the country, but they aren't necessarily acting against its wishes.
Also, if Ted Cruz is eligible for the presidency, doesn't that make a lot of the "Obama the undocumented" rhetoric moot?
He is starting to really bug me.
Not sure what planet you are on,
but on this Earth, a typical lab rat
has more documentation than Obama.
When did you decide this?
I know someone volunteering 4 his campaign (not for much longer though) she said calls are coming in and very angry people. I’m sure the trip to Upstate NY that got him big bucks in the bank came with obligations.
Jeff Sessions won’t run on a bet. He’d be a fool to do so. He has far more influence right where he’s at and doesn’t need to sell his soul.
I hardly think your comparison in post 17 is a worthy one. Many very smart people disagree with Cruz’s characterization of TPA. You border on blasphemy there.
That said, don't remember Mr. RomneyCARE speaking
out about this bill (or any other issue during critical times).
What did he say?
The Constitution reiterates that any treaty mus be approved by the Congress Critters. A president can negotiate a treaty, BUT Congress must approve. Why the negotiations of the treaty are not made public! What is there to hide! Like NAFTA the treaty screwed the American worker. Look at mexico many of the jobs from the USA went to Mexico, the American worker trained his replacement for the job in Mexico. Look at the IT industry - workers from India are replacing American IT guys. So more workers are supposed to be replaced by someone from a turd world nation!
Sooner or later there will be no one working in America and what happens America becomes a Turd Woprld Nation. The American Dream vanishes and the debts are passed unto the grandchildren and great grandchildren for what so some yahoos in DC can live like kings and queens and buy luxury yachts and so forth!
In response to people who are afraid that Ted Cruz 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 didnt have weeks to study each paragraph closely. Unfortunately, from the past history of the administrations 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.
Sessions supported CAFTA, etc.
Besides, Cruz is a lawyer. He knows what a bill says when he reads it.
The thing is, as I understand it, that all trade agreements have always been secret and must be kept secret because of all the horse trading that is happening inside the trade deal, right up to show time, when the agreement is finally stilled by signatures.
All those moving parts change, as Partner A responds to Partner B, which therefore might alter the course for Partner C, and so on.
It makes sense up to a point, because in the past everybody could understand horse trading, from the farm to the city, and could understand that a good outcome would require secrecy above all, until they heard the auctioneer finally say, SOLD!
But in the past there was TRUST. That’s dead now, I’d say, under this president, so if Obama is Partner C, he’s in the drivers seat, not Congress. Not anymore. Circumventing Congress is what Obama eats for breakfast, so what does it matter that there may be some innocuous “guarantee” for Congress written in the final agreement?
Boehner can be depended upon to reverse nothing. lol!
Then Cruz and others should have withheld their support UNTIL it was/is
made public.
That would have been a more prudent decision.
Geeminy, that’s a scary thought for sure. My hope is that the primary still holds clout enough to keep these candidates straight. The primary voters are mostly actual votes, but not generally speaking cash heavy enough to indebt our nominee to us throughout a general election.
In the general, I honestly think the nominee may have to go full on Chamber of Commerce. But, I’m cynical and a glass-half-full-type on politics.
Apparently there are a lot of FReepers who just want someone to lie to them. After all, virtually every serious candidate has supported this trade agreement but its just fine as long as they say they’re against it.
Sometimes its really hard to tell the difference between conservatives and liberals.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.