Observe:
> 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.
> 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.
This leaves out an incredibly important point: TPA prevents a Senate filibuster and mandates a simple majority yes/no vote.
In this way it’s similiar to the budget reconciliation process used to ram through Obamacare after the Dems lost their Senate supermajority when Scott Brown won Teddy Kennedy’s seat.
Cruz certainly knows this. Knows how much easier it’ll be to ram through TPP under these rules. Knows that jerks like McCain and Graham will vote for it.
I don’t know what he’s doing here - if he were smart (and he IS) he’d be advocating for a revised TPA that preserves the filibuster.