The News with Sen. Cruz - March 21, 2014
This week during the Senate recess, I had the pleasure of visiting Tyler, Lufkin, Fort Worth, San Angelo, and Midland. There is nothing more important to me than speaking with Texans and learning how I can best represent their interests in Washington.
While I was touring the Great State of Texas, my office received an update from the Obama Administration about the investigation of the IRS’s illegal targeting program that I would like you to know about.
Additionally, Russia’s annexation of Crimea demands a robust response from the United States in order to keep President Vladimir Putin in check.
Please keep reading for more.
All the best,
Ted Cruz
Missile Defense Needed to Keep Putin in Check
On Wednesday, Sen. Cruz decried Putin’s annexation of Crimea, which violates the territorial integrity of Ukraine and robs the free people of Ukraine from what is rightfully theirs.
Sen. Cruz said, “President Obama has disputed the legality of these actions, observing that ‘President Putin seems to have a different set of lawyers making a different set of interpretations, but I don’t think that’s fooling anyone.’ The reality, however, is that Putin is not concerned with international law or historical justice. His sole focus is on correcting what he considers to be the ‘greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century’ by reassembling the Soviet Union. Ukraine is only a step in this process. That is the real challenge the United States has to face, which we cannot do when we are agonizing over what our respective legal teams think.”
He continued, “Today his sights are set on Ukraine, but if he continues undeterred tomorrow it could be Estonia, Latvia, Moldova, Romania, the Czech Republic, or Poland. Meeting his challenge now with strength, not appeasement, would be the best way to ensure that this does not happen, and that we do not squander our hard-won Cold War victory over the Soviets.”
Read the full statement here.
To address the crisis, the following actions should be taken to protect the interests of the United States and defend Ukrainians:
- The President should begin the process of withdrawing from New START according to the provision of Article XIV(3) of the Treaty, which declares “Each party shall, in exercising its national sovereignty, have the right to withdraw from this Treaty if it decides that extraordinary events related to the subject matter of this Treaty have jeopardized its supreme interests;”
- The Secretary of Defense should engage in a full re-assessment of our missile defense posture in Europe with the purpose of restoring or expanding the installations cancelled in 2009; and
- The Secretary of Defense should, in conjunction with this work, engage in a thorough review of the delays and cost over-runs of the existing missile defense programs for Europe with the goal of accelerating their scheduled implementation.
Sen. Cruz also criticized Senate Democrats for blocking the Ukrainian aid package by insisting it include unnecessary provisions to expand the International Monetary Fund. View his floor speech here.
Sen. Cruz Speaks at Claremont Institute
On Saturday, The Claremont Institute honored Sen. Cruz with its 2014 Statesmanship Award at the organization’s annual dinner in honor of Sir Winston Churchill on Saturday evening.
During his remarks, Sen. Cruz explained the three major threats facing the United States and what conservatives must do to turn the country around, stressing that standing for sound principles is a requirement of winning public support.
Specifically, Sen. Cruz said:
- Global loss of American leadership is making the world a more dangerous place;
- Continued economic stagnation is making it harder for people who are struggling;
- President Obama is behaving in a consistently lawless manner, undermining the Constitution and the rule of law.
"There is a debate in Washington about what the right approach is to win these arguments, to turn the country around, to pull back from the fiscal and economic brink," Sen. Cruz said. "And, there are some in Washington who say the winning approach is to stick your head down, don't rock the boat, and for Lord's sake don't stand for anything. They say with this world-weariness, this sense of wisdom 'Now, now lad, you've got to win elections and standing for principle is inconsistent with winning elections.' What I want to suggest to you is that is a false dichotomy."
DOJ Refuses Cruz Request for a Special Prosecutor to Investigate IRS Targeting
On Wednesday, Sen. Cruz released a statement in response to the Department of Justice's letter refusing to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS's illegal targeting of conservative groups.
"It is the height of hypocrisy for the Obama Administration to claim that the investigator leading the investigation into the IRS's illegal program has no conflict of interest,” Sen. Cruz said. The investigator is a partisan Democrat who has donated over six thousand dollars to President Obama and Democrat causes. Just as nobody would trust John Mitchell to investigate Richard Nixon, nobody should trust a partisan Obama donor to investigate the IRS's political targeting of President Obama's enemies. Sadly, ‘in the discretion of the Attorney General,’ Eric Holder has chosen to reject the bipartisan tradition of the Department of Justice of putting rule of law above political allegiance.”
View the letter from the Department of Justice here.
Sen. Cruz's original letter requesting appointment of a special prosecutor may be viewed here.
In Case You Missed It:
- Sen. Cruz speaks with Dana Loesch: LISTEN
- Sen. Cruz speaks with Pastor Greg Young: LISTEN
- Sen. Cruz speaks with Ben Shapiro: LISTEN
- Sen. Cruz speaks with Simon Conway: LISTEN
- Sen. Cruz Q&A in Senate Armed Services Committee: WATCH
- Sen. Cruz Q&A with Vice Admiral Michael S. Rogers on NSA Surveillance: WATCH
