I am very impressed with Ted Cruz. He is strong. And he continues to show that he is a force to reckon with on the political stage. He has no fear of the RINOs or the Democrats who try to intimidate him and discredit him. He has been working hard for We the People and continues to do so. With that being said, he is NOT happy right now\u00a0with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and is making sure he makes it known to Congress and the citizens of this country.<\/p>\n

Texas Senator and Republican Presidential Candidate Ted Cruz accused his own Senate majority leader of being a liar from the Senate floor Friday, and said Republicans in charge of both houses of Congress has not changed things \u201cone iota\u201d because both parties serve the \u201cWashington cartel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cruz began his passionate and highly charged\u00a0speech after McConnell added the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank to the highway-funding bill and prevented senators from adding more amendments.\u00a0Cruz said that his vote for trade promotion authority, also known as fast track, was cast on the basis that McConnell assured him there was not a deal made with the Democrats to support the controversial Export-Import bank. Cruz said he asked McConnell the question during a private Senate Republican lunch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sat in my office, I told my staff, the majority leader looked me in the eye and looked 54 Republicans in the eye,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cI cannot believe he would tell a flat-out lie, and I voted on those assurances that he made to each and every one of us. What we just saw today was an absolute demonstration that not only what he told every Republican senator, but what he told the press over and over and over again, was a simple lie.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Presidential hopeful called out Mitch McConnell for being corrupt and for being a liar. You don’t hear many politicians speaking out like that against people in their own party because they just want to keep the peace. Cruz is on fire and rightfully so. He was lied to and the lie influenced his vote.<\/p>\n

Most of us agree\u00a0that free trade is good for America\u00a0and\u00a0when we open up foreign markets, it helps American farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers.\u00a0But TPA in this Congress has become enmeshed in corrupt Washington backroom deal-making, and there are\u00a0serious concerns that it would open up the potential for sweeping changes in our laws that trade agreements typically do not include.<\/p>\n

Since the Senate first voted on TPA, there have been two material changes.\u00a0First, WikiLeaks subsequently revealed new troubling information regarding the Trade in Services Agreement, or TiSA, one of the trade deals being negotiated by Obama.\u00a0Despite the administration\u2019s public assurances that it was not negotiating on immigration, several chapters of the TiSA draft posted online explicitly contained potential changes in federal immigration law. TPA would cover TiSA, and therefore these changes would presumably be subject to fast-track. Let’s just say, thank you WikiLeaks for bringing that to our attention!<\/p>\n

Second, TPA\u2019s progress through the House and Senate appears to have been made possible by secret deals between Republican Leadership and the Democrats.\u00a0When TPA first came up for a vote in the Senate, it was blocked by a group of senators, led by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA)\u00a0and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC),\u00a0both of whom were conditioning their support on the unrelated objective of reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank.<\/span><\/p>\n

“The Ex-Im Bank is a classic example of corporate welfare. It is cronyism at its worst, with U.S. taxpayers guaranteeing billions of dollars in loans for sketchy buyers in foreign nations. Ex-Im is scheduled to wind down on June 30. But powerful lobbyists in Washington want to keep the money flowing,” said Cruz.<\/p>\n

Cruz said, “After witnessing several senators huddle on the floor the day of the TPA vote, I suspected that to get their votes on TPA, Republican Leadership had promised supporters of Ex-Im a vote to reauthorize the bank before it winds down.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On that same day, Cruz directly asked\u00a0Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)\u00a0what precise deal had been cut to pass TPA. Visibly irritated, McConnell\u00a0told Cruz\u00a0and all the\u00a0Republican colleagues that there was no deal whatsoever; rather, he simply told them they could use the ordinary rules to offer whatever amendments they wanted on future legislation.<\/p>\n

Taking McConnell at his word that there was no deal on Ex-Im, Cruz\u00a0voted yes on TPA because he\u00a0believed the U.S. generally benefits from free trade, and without TPA historically there have been no free-trade agreements.<\/p>\n

Cruz was surprised when the the vote went to the House\u00a0and\u00a0Nancy Pelosi led House Democrats to oppose TPA en masse. (Technically, they voted against TAA, which was wrapped into the deal on TPA.)\u00a0House conservatives went to Speaker Boehner and said they could support TPA if Boehner agreed not to cut a deal with Democrats on Ex-Im, and just let the bank expire.\u00a0Boehner declined this offer and\u00a0it appears he made the deal with Democrats\u00a0–\u00a0presumably tossing in the Ex-Im Bank and also increasing tax penalties on businesses.<\/p>\n

Moreover, it is known that the Speaker punished conservatives\u00a0–\u00a0wrongly stripping Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC)\u00a0of his subcommittee chairmanship, and reportedly threatening to strip other conservatives of their chairmanships.<\/p>\n

“There\u2019s too much corporate welfare, too much cronyism and corrupt dealmaking, by the Washington cartel. For too long, career politicians in both parties have supported government of the lobbyist, by the lobbyist, and for the lobbyist \u2013 at the expense of the taxpayers. It\u2019s a time for truth. And a time to honor our commitments to the voters,” said Cruz.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy staff told me, \u2018He\u2019s lying to you, we\u2019ve been around here for a long time. He\u2019s not telling you the truth,\u2019\u201d Cruz said. \u201cI said, \u2018I don\u2019t see how I can\u2019t take him at his word.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cruz even compared McConnell to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who frequently blocked debate.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow the Republican leader is behaving like the senior senator from Nevada,\u201d Cruz said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cruz\u00a0added that since Republicans have controlled both houses of Congress, they have passed the Obama-supported \u201ccromnibus\u201d bill, funded Obamacare, funded his executive immigration actions and approved Loretta Lynch as attorney general.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich one of these decisions would be one iota different if Harry Reid was still the leader?\u201d Cruz said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n