ICYMI: Sen. Cruz Joins Dallas’ Jon-David Wells on ‘The Wells Report’

ADDISON, Texas – Yesterday, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) visited Mary Kay Inc. in Addison, Texas, where he discussed his efforts to create more good paying jobs for hardworking Texans. During his travels across the state, Sen. Cruz spoke with Jon-David Wells on 660 AM The Answer’s ‘The Wells Report,’ and discussed his priorities for Texas, including lowering health insurance premiums, and simplifying the tax code.

“I think there is a lot of hope and optimism for what we can accomplish,” Sen. Cruz said. “There’s also concern. Right now, Congress is not getting the job done. And so I remain optimistic. I think we’ve got four big priorities in Congress, four big priorities for the president and the administration, and those are number one, repealing Obamacare. We’ve got to get that done. Failure is not an option. Number two, tax reform. Dramatically simplifying the tax code, reducing taxes. Ideally what I’d like to see is a simple flat tax, where we abolish the IRS. Number three, regulatory reform. Pulling the federal government off of the backs of small businesses and farmers and ranchers. And number four, nominating and confirming strong, principled constitutionalists to the Supreme Court and the federal courts. If we deliver on those four, this could be the most productive Congress in decades. But if we fail to deliver, well then I think it would be a heartbreaking, missed opportunity. And what I’m hearing from Texans is very much the same sentiment that they’re hopeful we can do it, but they’re starting to get concerned that we’re not getting the job done.”

When asked about repealing and replacing Obamacare, Sen. Cruz highlighted his efforts to lower health insurance premiums and expand consumer freedom.

“As you know, the very first bill I ever introduced in the Senate was an Obamacare repeal bill that was one sentence: Obamacare is repealed. Period. The end. And Republicans for seven years, we have been promising the American people, ‘if you elect us, we’ll repeal Obamacare,’ I think if we fail to get it done, I think we look like blithering idiots. I’ll tell you, two weeks ago when the repeal efforts failed by a single vote on the Senate floor, you know, a lot of Democrats, a lot of the media were out publically celebrating, crowing, but I don’t believe that was the end. I still believe we can get this done, and I think we’re closer than many observers believe. I think the key to getting it done, is focusing on lowering premiums. It’s the single biggest thing that people hate about Obamacare, that are really making people hurt under Obamacare is premiums have skyrocketed. And I hear from Texans all the time, ‘I can’t afford health insurance any more,’ or ‘I can’t afford to provide the insurance my family needs.’ We’ve got to lower premiums and the way you do that Jon-David, as you know is you have more competition, more choices, and more options, to drive down costs. You need more consumer freedom, so you that you the consumer have the right to choose what health insurance you want to buy for your family and you shouldn’t have to buy what the federal government mandates.”

When asked about tax reform, Sen. Cruz reiterated his support for a simple flat tax.

“What I am urging the president, what I am urging other senators, is that on tax reform, really two words: bold and simple. That there’s power to bold simplicity in tax reform, and you know you’ll remember when I was running for president, a core policy issue I ran on was a simple flat tax where we produced the post card that you’d fill out. And the flat tax that I rolled out was a simple 10 percent flat tax for families and individuals, with a big personal deduction so that a family of four, the first $36,000 you pay nothing, no taxes on anything. And every dollar above $36,000 everyone pays a simple 10 percent. Doesn’t matter if it’s ordinary income, dividends or cap gains, long term, short term, none of that matters, it’s all 10 percent. And on the business side, the simple business flat tax 16 percent applies fairly and uniformly to all businesses small and big and we abolish every other tax. So the death tax, abolished. The corporate income tax, abolished. The payroll tax, the biggest tax most working men and women pay, abolished. And that simplicity would have produced about 5 million new jobs and would have resulted in everyone’s after tax income increasing by double digits of at least 14 percent. That’s what I’m urging the president to push forward. It’s what I hope we do, and it would have a tremendous impact if we could get it done.”

Listen to Sen. Cruz’s interview in its entirety here.

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