TED CRUZ INTERVIEW, HIS POSITION ON TPP TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP AND TPA TRADE PROMOTION AUTHORITY

TED CRUZ INTERVIEW, HIS POSITION ON TPP TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP AND TPA TRADE PROMOTION AUTHORITY 

Transcript

English (Automatic Captions)

0:00 and we are now joined by senator Ted Cruz Texas Republican 0:04 and presidential candidate senator thank you so much for coming on the corner 0:09 report 0:09 I know you're very busy we really appreciate it 0:12 good morning jeff it's great it's great to be with the it's always great to be 0:16 with you 0:16 I okay so senator let me just saw a cut to the chase 0:20 trip I the house is about to vote in a on fast track authority 0:25 they are a lot of conservatives out there are very angry they don't want to 0:30 give this president 0:32 TPA they feel that we sent you 0:35 and fellow republicans up in the up to washington 0:39 to block him to stop him to curb his imperial presidency 0:44 and so my first question to you is this why would Ted Cruz 0:49 a staunch Obama critic give Obama 0:53 almost complete power to complete negotiations over the TPP 0:58 and then reduce the threshold for a vote on the TPP 1:03 from 67 votes to sixty votes 1:06 250 votes plus one why would you trust this president 1:10 honestly senator I wouldn't trust them to clean my point lift 1:14 if it was clogged if you came in with a plunger why would you trust him 1:18 with the national interest well jeff thank you for that question there's a 1:23 lot of substance there so so let's let's take the different pieces one at a time 1:27 but but let's start with with the first premise 1:31 I that we should be fighting Obama 1:33 and and I think it is fair to say there has been no body in the United States 1:38 Congress 1:39 the stood up and fought President Obama more that I had more consistently 1:44 over and over again this is not a lawless president who was abused his 1:48 power 1:48 and at every turn whether it is leading the fight to stop Obamacare weather is 1:54 leading the fight 1:55 to stop the debt ceiling from being raised without meaningful reforms 1:58 weather is leading the fight 1:59 stop President Obama's amnesty when most to the republicans 2:04 were not in the fight I had been reading the fight so you're preaching to the 2:11 choir 2:12 that we have to stop this president's abuse about 2:15 thats number one now let's talk about 2:20 PTA and PPP because unfortunately there so many acronyms 2:24 that this gets confusing and and it's getting a lot of people because 2:30 we naturally distrust this president a lot of people are very very concerned 2:33 and don't understand 2:35 the multiple pieces that are here GPA and DPP are two things that are very 2:40 very different 2:41 pp a is trade promotion authority 2:45 it's also known as fast track 2:49 fast track is the process by which trade agreements are approved by congress 2:54 Italian trade agreements have been done for eighty years 2:59 I through TPA what happens is that the 3:02 fun and congress sets out specific negotiating parameters 3:07 for the executive and free trade agreements 3:10 and if the executive follows those objectives 3:14 then when the trade agreement goes to congress 3:17 it is subject to an up-or-down vote a straight up-or-down vote with no 3:21 amendments 3:21 now history is demonstrated the only way to get 3:26 a trade agreement adopted is with fast-track 3:30 since FDR consistently for 80 years 3:33 presidents in both parties have had fast-tracked anytime fast-track has 3:37 lapsed 3:37 trade agreements don't get to go should and the reason for that 3:42 is that foreign countries are unwilling to negotiate an agreement if on the back 3:47 and in congress a whole buncha amendments could be stuck on on the end 3:50 so what congress is building on right now is TPA is the process 3:57 for negotiating free trade agreement now there is a second thing called PPP 4:02 and a lot of the discussion has focused on PPP 4:06 PPP is one specific trade agreement that's currently being negotiated 4:11 PPP stand for the trans-pacific partnership 4:14 I it's being negotiated with 11 other countries including 4:19 Canada Japan Australia New Zealand I 4:22 china is not one of those eleven countries I 4:26 right now there is no final language on PPP because TPP 4:30 is still being negotiated the different countries are gone back and forth the 4:33 administration is going back and forth 4:35 what the Senate has voted on St PA the process for free trade agreements not 4:41 PPP the specific per sec Pacific 4:44 trade agreement what i voted 4:47 on is TPA the process 4:51 that allows free trade agreement to be negotiated not 4:54 this person 4:55 agreement TPP I haven't decided I haven't taken a position 5:00 one way or the other on PPP because 5:03 for any trade agreement I wanna see what the final agreement is the 5:07 ago she added to assess whether it's a good thing or bad thing so I have not 5:11 taken a position 5:12 publicly or privately on PPP and I don't intend to until there's an actual 5:16 agreement 5:17 to radio now the 5:22 there were several things on your question that the need to address one 5:25 other thing he said 5:26 is why would you lower the threshold from 67 to 60 5:30 250 and and that's based 5:34 at Jeff on on a misunderstanding a lot of folks that are saying 5:38 PPAs somehow giving up the Senate Report power 5:41 now as you know I've spent my entire professional career 5:45 for two decades defending the US Constitution under the Constitution 5:51 there are two ways to make binding along number one you can pass a treaty 5:56 ratified by two-thirds of the Senate 5:57 or number two you can pass the legislation passed by majority in both 6:02 houses of Congress and signed by the president those are the only two ways 6:06 to make binding on america BPA uses the second constitutional path which is 6:12 a majority in both houses signed by the president which have laws made 6:16 an American part of the reason is it's been long recognized 6:20 that the Constitution's origination costs 6:23 applies to trade bills which means the House of Representatives has to be 6:28 involved 6:28 there's a reason why trade bills have historically not been down a street is 6:33 because the constitution says 6:35 that anything concerning the raising a revenues and trade bills concerned 6:38 parents which is raising a revenues 6:40 hand to originate in the house representatives so 6:44 the problem that's approving a trade agreement through both houses of 6:49 Congress 6:50 has been the way it has been done for roughly a century 6:54 and it is not giving the president more authority had people are saying over and 6:59 over again 7:00 why would you give President Obama 7:02 more power this is not getting President Obama more power and and I understand 7:06 that concern I don't 7:08 I do not trust this president any more than you do 7:11 and and I think the scars that I bear from standing and fighting against him 7:16 over and over again 7:17 demonstrate that I don't trust this president but at the same time 7:22 my top priority in the senate has been jobs and economic growth and when I ran 7:26 for the senate in Texas 7:28 Iran supporting free trade just like ronald reagan did 7:32 I believe free trade benefits America American farmers and ranchers 7:37 and and manufacturers that opening up foreign markets 7:41 helps create jobs here at home in and that's why I supported pp I haven't 7:46 taken a position 7:47 on TBP cuz we need to see what senator first okay arm 7:51 the senator just there's no question about it and I think this 7:55 you have led the fight on many issues that goes without saying 7:59 and I think this is why I've been a big supporter of yours 8:02 me my listeners have been a big supporter of yours and 8:06 honestly senator during no one doubts that I have to ask you know a couple 8:10 mother followed her shitter 8:11 have you read the trans-pacific partnership have you read the text from 8:16 beginning to end 8:18 the reason why I ask is as you know a good colleague Irv years a good friend 8:22 and ally on many issues 8:23 Senator Jeff Sessions a known as a straight shooter 8:27 he's read the treaty per forgive me the taxed 8:31 he says this is not a trade pact this is not your simple trade deal 8:36 we're not talking now after we're not talking the US Korean trade deal 8:41 were talking about something that is in many ways 8:44 a political economic Union it leads to a Pacific Union 8:49 it has a special TPP Commission 8:52 embedded with certain powers that would eventually Trump 8:56 american sovereignty on immigration on labor 9:00 on the environment on commercial policy and even on food 9:05 and so the question is this senator if you haven't read the tree from beginning 9:10 to end 9:10 and and people who have read the treaty and I read the wiki leaks which revealed 9:15 some in the secret immigration chapters 9:17 that are embedded within Obama trade it clearly creates an international 9:22 commission 9:23 why then would you vote for TPA 9:26 and lower the trash all 250 votes plus one 9:30 when you know then the president can bribe enough people 9:33 to get fifty plus one because this is now no longer a trade deal 9:38 you're creating now in many ways a supranational 9:42 entity closer to the European Union why would Ted Cruz do that 9:47 and trust this president when we know for the last six years 9:50 he has been negotiating this completely in secret 9:54 and he never has america's self-interest and heart 9:57 well again there's a lot a lot a substance and that question so let's try 10:02 to address it 10:03 one at a time first of all yes I have read PPP I have gone to the classified 10:08 setting in the capital and and read it 10:10 I'm and wanna the sources are 10:14 much over the concern is the fact that the text if PPP is classified 10:19 I think that is idiotic I have publicly called repeatedly 10:24 for the text pppp to be made public I i understand why people are naturally 10:30 deeply suspicious cuz at the Texas secret 10:33 this president has proven so lawless and so on trustworthy 10:36 that every possible parade of horribles you can come up with people naturally 10:41 assume 10:41 it's gotta be in there because at the Texas secret they don't trust this 10:45 president 10:46 I get that I don't trust this president either but I've read this trade 10:49 agreement 10:50 you read it senator you read it word for word every science sat down and read and 10:53 read the trade agreement 10:54 is is Senator Sessions lying I what he is saying is not accurate 10:59 that is not accurate on this trade agreement 11:03 now at least the current trend with this is being negotiated to the stress change 11:09 with the current draft that is in congress that I have read 11:11 does not impact change alter or affect US immigration law 11:17 there he is a brief section in 11:20 and the PPP that kind 11:23 earns issues and immigration but explicitly the United States doesn't 11:26 join that section 11:27 so it's it is a provisional a trade agreement between 11:31 other countries that the United States the way trainees work sometimes 11:35 countries join part of a treaty but not another party the tree 11:38 the immigration Party United States has explicitly not joined 11:42 beyond that I introduced legislation 11:46 when TPA was being considered I introduced an amendment to make explicit 11:50 that no trade agreement with impact immigration 11:52 unfortunately two senators 11:56 I Rand Paul 11:59 and Lindsey Graham objected to allowing that amendment come up to about so it 12:04 didn't get voted on in the Senate 12:05 however the house representatives publicly agreed to include that 12:10 amendment that I worked on with jeff Sessions 12:13 the house to represent as it publicly agreed to include that amendment in the 12:18 final text that they vote 12:20 be on at that notion I love 12:23 giving up sovereignty and an international body that can alter US law 12:29 yes I have spent 20 years 12:33 fighting to defend United States sovereignty there's no one in the senate 12:37 who has been a stronger opponent and international bodies taking away our 12:41 authority 12:42 as you recall you and i talked about the case may be in versus Texas 12:46 when I was the solicitor general a Texas the chief lawyer for the state of Texas 12:50 I stood up and fought the world court and the United Nations 12:55 which it issued an order but to the United States to reopen the convictions 13:00 a 51 murders I went before the US Supreme Court 13:03 on the other side was the world court was the United Nations 13:07 or 90 foreign nations and was the present at the United States who I would 13:12 note 13:13 unfortunately was a Republican George W Bush and I stood up to my own party 13:17 and to the world court in the land 13:19 sending US sovereignty and we won 6-3 13:23 and the supreme court rightly concluded 13:26 that the world court in the united nations have no authority to bind the 13:30 United States 13:31 and the president of the united states has no authority to give up our 13:34 sovereignty 13:34 so when it comes to defending sovereignty there is no one 13:39 who has fought the fight longer are harder then I have or more successfully 13:44 and it is simply Paul that 13:48 the TPP trade agreement 13:52 gives up our sovereignty there there is nothing in PPAR TPP that can give a 13:57 foreign body 13:58 the ability to make binding law 14:02 in the United States of America and under our constitution we talk about a 14:05 minute ago 14:05 there are two ways to make law it's not have a senate treaty 14:10 ratified by two-thirds of the Senate where you can have a law adopted 14:15 by both houses and signed into law by the president there is not 14:19 a third option and so I 14:22 fully understand the fears because we do not trust this president 14:26 and because periodically the Texas secret people are naturally believing it 14:31 does all these terrible things 14:33 much the TPP does not do that and it 14:40 tried to use this president tried to slip something in 14:44 it would have to be approved by congress and by the way under the terms of the 14:50 fast-track TPA 14:52 any trade agreement including the PPP 14:56 must be public at least sixty days attacks to that 14:59 before it is voted on so i'd call repeatedly they should make detective it 15:04 public today 15:05 but even if the administration doesn't follow what I'm calling for 15:10 the TPP cannot be voted on 15:13 until the text has been public for at least 15:16 sixty days which means you can read it word-for-word everyone else can we can 15:21 have a 15:21 all and robust debate about what senator senator I have to ask you just a couple 15:25 more follow-up question sir 15:27 when we did our town hall together I remember explicitly I ask you point 15:32 blank about the TPA in the TPP 15:34 it and you said to me and we have the Cape 15:37 the UID not read the entire text the UN red 15:41 parts of the tax not all the tax and that 15:45 you said but not to worry cuz this was just according to you 15:48 a standard trade pact listen to senator jeff Sessions 15:53 I just because I'm either someone's lot someone's getting the information wrong 15:57 so it's either you or Senator Sessions here is what senator session said 16:01 on-the-record quote 16:02 he's talking now about arm 16:05 about the TPA and he says in particular 16:09 he said that vs is not 16:13 a trade deal it is much more 16:16 %uh the treaty as he puts it close to having been to the closed room to review 16:21 the secret acts 16:22 on the TPP it is clear it more closely resembles a treaty then a trade deal 16:27 he goes on to say quote the implications of this new Pacific Union 16:33 are extraordinary and ought to be discussed 16:37 in fall in public before congress 16:40 even contemplates fast tracking its creation 16:43 and preset pre surrendering its power to apply the constitutional two-thirds 16:48 treaty vote 16:49 he then goes on to say reviewing the secret taxed 16:53 plus the secret guidance document that accompanies it 16:57 reveals that this new transnational commissioned the PPP Commission 17:02 chartered with a living agreement clause 17:05 would have the authority to amend the agreement 17:08 after its adoption to add new members 17:11 and two issue regulations impacting labor 17:15 immigration environmental and commercial policy 17:18 senator is Senator Sessions making all this up 17:22 number one number two the week just 17:26 I'm free trade in general we're not talking about something 17:30 hypothetically we've had free trade deals now for the last 17:34 twenty-five years we've amassed eleven-point two trillion dollars 17:39 in trade deficits now I know texas has benefited 17:43 it's true three million jobs the border states have done well 17:47 but if you go to Ohio if you go to Wisconsin if you go to illinois 17:51 if you go to Michigan if you go to pennsylvania 17:54 fifty-five thousand factories have been closed 17:58 526 million jobs manufacturing jobs 18:01 have been lost our manufacturing base has been gutted 18:05 senator we've tried free trade and it's an 18:08 absolute disaster why would we sign on 18:12 to another mega-deal when we've had such a disaster 18:16 for the last 25 years and for god sakes 18:20 if there is this international commission by now voting for TPA 18:25 you can't amend it you can strike it down 18:29 it's now up to one up-or-down vote you put yourselves in a straitjacket 18:33 why would you do that them well yet again there's there's a lot of substance 18:38 there so let me try to go 18:39 one at a time through the different things he said first of all 18:43 up with regard to jeff Sessions just as a good a good friend of mine he and I 18:48 have 18:49 thought side by side on a great many issues 18:53 I'm and I like and respect 18:56 jeff Sessions very much I'm what he 19:00 is describing their about what this will do is simply not accurate 19:03 I respect is he is but it's not accurate I had read 19:10 this agreement now what I told you in the town hall is this is a sec seven 19:14 hundred-page agreement 19:15 I'm a careful enough lawyers I'm not gonna represent the years I have studied 19:20 yet the way one word for weeks and weeks on and two the way one word during the 19:25 sixty days when it is public 19:27 I'm in a sec 700-page agreement can there be 19:30 is things buried in a footnote in a the that one doesn't see sure 19:35 II Weatherly concede that by 19:39 it is not accurate to say this is 19:42 undermining our sovereignty and any agreement did undermine our sovereignty 19:47 I would fight against tooth-and-nail it is 19:50 simply false to say this would create some transnational body 19:55 that could change US laws now 19:59 you mentioned we've had free trade agreements in the past away free trade 20:02 agreements 20:03 have worked in the past is there had been tribunal so the two countries agree 20:08 we're gonna lower tariffs were gonna lower tariffs on a week 20:11 will lower tariffs on we coming and our country lower tariffs on we coming into 20:16 your country 20:16 our farmers gunship week back and forth to each other pass trade agreements and 20:22 the TPP is like this 20:23 include a tribunal that if one other countries 20:27 jacked up tariffs on we didn't violate 20:30 the agreement the other country can go to enter 20:34 an international arbiter and J they're violating their agreement to lower 20:38 tariffs on wheat 20:39 and the consequences at the International every tribunal says you're 20:42 right 20:43 they're not following the agreement the consequences 20:46 under the agreement the other country can jack up its tariffs as well 20:52 without violating the agreement now regardless of what the tribunal says 20:57 that the tribunal says 20:58 you can or can't jack up your terrace 21:02 each country always rain retains the sovereignty to decide its own laws 21:07 the Tribunal has no authority to change 21:12 anything to change one word are 21:15 any law in America under our Constitution is 21:18 only the US government they can do so now you made a day a second point 21:23 about free trade and and yeah beyond you I perhaps made may disagree on on the 21:29 benefits of free trade I am very much 21:31 a ronald reagan free-trader that I believe american farmers and ranchers 21:35 and manufactures when we open up for markets 21:38 we compete and do better but let me point out you're absolutely right when 21:43 you say 21:44 they're working men and women have been a hammock across this country 21:49 but it hasn't been because a free-trade one of the worst things that happened 21:53 is use see democrats you see union bosses blame the job losses were saying 21:59 on free trade 22:00 you wanna know why we got a job losses we got a job losses 22:03 because Obamacare we've got job losses because a crippling 22:07 regulations we got job losses because sell it in the Obama EPA they're 22:11 destroying small businesses are hammering jobs 22:14 and what I'm trying to do he's bringing back the sort of environment 22:19 let's take for example energy we are experiencing an incredible energy 22:25 Renaissance 22:26 in america a shale revolution and yet the Obama administration's doing 22:30 everything they can 22:32 to feel that energy red revolution now I am fighting 22:36 for unleashing the energy resources we have in america 22:40 and what that will do which re-creating millions of high-paying jobs if we get 22:45 the federal government had a way to stop being an 22:48 enemy American energy independence 22:52 that will bring back millions of high-paying manufacturing jobs 22:56 blue-collar jobs factory jobs 22:59 steel industry will let us compete with nations like China 23:04 not based on low-cost labor but are abundant 23:07 low-cost energy that we have here and and 23:11 lessen the Obama administration would love to 23:13 her sorry to cut you off but we all know about 50 seconds left so please just 23:17 finish go ahead please finish up our 23:19 what I was saying the Obama administration would love for all of us 23:22 to blame the crippling job losses under under its administration on free trade 23:27 that is not because it is the abuse of power the taxes the regulations 23:31 Obamacare 23:32 and we need a fight to stop it senator 23:35 I'm sorry and I we are all on more times than US sovereignty in the constitution 23:39 our senator here stand up guy thank you very much for coming on the corner 23:44 report we really appreciated 23:46 arm hopefully we will have you back on again if we have any more questions 23:51 but thank you so much senator thank you Jeff got my god bless you take care