J.D. Winteregg, the conservative primary challenger to House Speaker John Boehner, is slamming Boehner for not being transparent when it comes to Obamatrade.
“Boehner and his friends are spending millions of dollars to try to convince the American people that our President has the willingness and ability to negotiate a trade agreement that will benefit the US,” Winteregg said in an email to Breitbart News.
This is the same man who traded five Islamic terrorists for a treasonous deserter. He’s also in the process of negotiating a horrible, ‘no preconditions’ deal with Iran, giving them what they want with no commitment from them to limit their uranium enrichment program. And Speaker Boehner believes this President will negotiate a trade deal in our best interests? On what basis?
Boehner is currently working with President Obama to try to rush Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which would fast-track the Pacific Rim trade deal the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), through the House. Collectively, TPA and TPP have become known as Obamatrade. At this time, Boehner’s office—specifically spokesman Matt Wolking—continues refusing to answer whether or not the Speaker has visited a secretive room inside the Capitol to read the TPP text before pushing through a bill, TPA, that would fast-track it.
Now, though, despite claims from Boehner and House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) that there’s enough support for Obamatrade in the House, more and more Republicans are coming out against it.
One aide close to the House Freedom Caucus tells Breitbart News that it’s unlikely Boehner will even be able to get a majority of Republicans to vote for this—and would therefore have to break the so-called Hastert Rule which informally requires for a Speaker to bring legislation to the floor of the House that they have support for it from the majority of their conference. That means that, if that’s true, the only way this bill will pass is if House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi bails Boehner and Obama out.
On Wednesday night, Politico suggested that Pelosi may be the White House’s and Boehner’s “secret weapon” on Obamatrade.
“Administration officials have been so impressed by Nancy Pelosi’s approach to negotiations over giving President Barack Obama ‘fast-track’ trade authority that they’ve started to consider a crazy possibility: She could even vote for it herself,” Politico wrote. “But only if she has to.”
Winteregg, who ran against the Speaker unsuccessfully in a primary last cycle but is giving it another go this time around, is appalled that Boehner would cast his lot with such a crowd.
“Speaker Boehner promised us transparency, but he appears to be following a script co-authored by Obama, Pelosi and Hillary Clinton,” Winteregg told Breitbart News. “Apparently, we’re going to have to ‘pass this bill so we can see what’s in it.’ I’m not even sure if he’s read the document–he won’t say one way or the other. Bottom line: He promised to ‘fight tooth and nail’ against Obama’s agenda. Has he done so?”
While Winteregg is considered a long-shot to beat Boehner, it’s not unheard of in times like these for such high-ranking powerful Republicans to go down if they infuriate people in their districts by doing things like Obamatrade or amnesty.
Now former-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost re-election in a primary to current Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) last year largely because of similar actions to what Boehner is doing now. The question becomes whether the circumstances continue to play themselves out to a place where Winteregg can capitalize off Boehner’s mistakes, and edge him out on the ground by focusing in on the right things and gaining enough grassroots support. Winteregg getting bolder against Boehner here also is a sign to the rest of Boehner’s GOP conference: Not a single GOP member is safe if they keep pushing for amnesty and Obamatrade.