Trump Camp: Ted Cruz Is ‘The Reason Why Obamatrade’ Passed
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breitbart.com/big-government/2016/03/29/trump-camp-ted-cruz-reason-obamatrade-passed/
Like Sen. Cruz, Obama had been pushing for fast track to ensure the passage of TPP. Fast track lowers the 67 votes required to pass a treaty to a mere simple majority, it surrenders the 60 vote filibuster, and it forfeits individual senators’ ability to add amendments or changes to the trade deals negotiated by the president. As Sen. Sessions explained, “A vote for fast-track is a vote to authorize the President to ink the secret [TPP] deal contained in these pages—to affix his name on the Union and to therefore enter the United States into it.”
On Monday’s program of Breitbart News Daily, Miller said:
We talk about Club for Growth, we talk about these groups that are out there pushing offshoring, there’s a reason why they’re aligned behind Ted Cruz — and this needs to be understood: the reason why Obamatrade became law is because of Ted Cruz. During the early pivotal moments of the fight when Jeff Sessions — and I was working for him — was out there warning the country about the living agreement [of the Trans-Pacific Partnership], about the transnational commission [established by the TPP], about the loss of U.S. sovereignty, Ted Cruz not only wrote an op-ed with Paul Ryan giving the pact urgent needed momentum, but Ted Cruz also did media and interviews arguing against Jeff Sessions.
In the April 2015 Wall Street Journal op-ed — which Miller cited during the interview — Cruz and Ryan describe the TPP as an “historic” trade agreement that would “mean greater access to a billion customers for American manufacturers, farmers and ranchers.”
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Breitbart News Daily host Stephen K. Bannon pushed back against Miller’s assertion and asked about the fact that when a procedural matter unexpectedly caused the fast track to come up for another vote in the Senate, Cruz eventually reversed his vote to oppose fast track. Bannon asked: “Because of the work of Sen. Sessions and others — didn’t he [Cruz] actually see the error of his ways? And then at the appropriate time — or at least later — say, ‘Hey, look Mitch McConnell and the other guys lied to me.’ And he came out against TPA [trade promotion authority] and he’s coming out against TPP strongly.”
“No,” Miller replied. “He rallied support for the pact sufficient to ensure its passage and he cast the initial vote for its final passage when he and everyone else believed it was the final vote. All of the lobbying he did on behalf of the pact guaranteed its passage. If he had been silent, we probably would have defeated it. If he had lobbied against it — as he was morally bound to do — we would have defeated it. He was the difference maker.”
Indeed, Cruz seemed to provide cover for Republican lawmakers, who used Cruz’s support for Obamatrade to defend their votes to fast-track TPP.
Then-Speaker John Boehner touted Cruz’s support for Obamatrade on the Speaker’s website in a talking points memo entitled, “Conservative Support for TPA Grows” on June 9th.
These talking points were echoed by other Republican lawmakers such as Kenny Marchant, who highlighted Cruz’s support for fast track on his website as well on June 11th.
South Carolina lawmakers Tim Scott and Trey Gowdy similarly seemed to use Sen. Cruz’s name for political cover when trying to dismiss the concerns of voters who believed that granting Obama the fast track executive power he desperately wanted would further empower his Presidency: “Trade Promotion Authority is not about empowering any president,” Scott and Gowdy sought to assure voters. “Strong conservatives such as Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, George Will, Charles Krauthammer and the two of us support it.”
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