Sen. Cruz Discusses Priorities for Re-Opening the Economy & Safely Getting Americans Back to Work on Fox Business & Fox News
HOUSTON, Texas - Following reports this week that more than 26 million Americans have filed for unemployment as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Friday appeared on Fox Business' "Varney & Co." and Fox News' "The Daily Briefing," to talk about his priorities for re-opening the economy and safely getting the American people back to work. Excerpts of Sen. Cruz's interviews are below.
ON GETTING TEXANS BACK TO WORK
"I'm glad Texas is moving forward with allowing businesses to open and allowing people to go back to work. We need to do so as fast as possible consistent with the science, consistent with the medical professionals' advice about how to slow and mitigate the spread of the virus. [...] We should be protecting those who are really vulnerable. We should be protecting the very elderly, we should be protecting those with very serious health conditions. [...] For young healthy people, they ought to be getting back to work driving the economy, moving towards economic growth. In all likelihood it won't be exactly the same as it was three months ago. We may well be using PPE. We may well be using masks and gloves. Restaurants may have to redesign their dining rooms to spread the tables out so you have social distancing. We can use reasonable common sense steps to slow the spread of the virus. But just freezing our economy for weeks and weeks and months and months on end, that is going to cost human lives too." (Sen. Cruz, "Varney & Co.," Fox Business, 4/24/2020)
"I think Texans are ready to get back to work. I think Texans are eager to get back to work [...] We're taking extraordinary steps to flatten the curve and to slow the risk of transmission of the virus. But at the same time, we've got an economic crisis that is massive. 26 million Americans have lost their jobs. Millions of small businesses are on the verge of bankruptcy. The longer we continue those policies, the more lives [that] will be lost. Because we know that kind of poverty and misery and suffering, that will increase the instances of mental illness, of depression, of suicide, of alcohol abuse, of substance abuse. That will cost lives. Our objective needs to be to save as many lives as possible and to protect life. That means valuing life of on both sides of the ledger." (Sen. Cruz, "The Daily Briefing," Fox News, 4/24/2020)
ON REINING IN SHORT-TERM SPENDING & FOCUSING ON LONG-TERM RECOVERY
"We cannot spend our way out of this. We have spent now nearly $3 trillion. We have spent 15 percent of our total national debt. Enough is enough is enough. The focus - and I supported every one of these bills that has come through. I agreed that we needed emergency relief to help people through the crisis as a short-term bridge loan [...] But more fundamentally, we need to restart the economy. [...] When [Congress] comes back, what I think we ought to focus is on is not yet another relief and spending bill, which seems to be what Nancy Pelosi wants to do, but instead, a recovery bill. A bill that is designed to help small businesses that are finally re-opening their doors, finally seeing customers come back. Putting in place policies to help those small businesses grow and regenerate the jobs, and get the 26 million people lost their jobs back to work." (Sen. Cruz, "Varney & Co.," Fox Business, 4/24/2020)
ON BAIL OUTS FOR FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE STATES
"As part of the CARES Act we gave assistance to state and local governments for their work fighting this crisis. But absolutely not. No we should not bail out states for fiscal irresponsibility that long predated the crisis. You've got a handful of big Democratic states, states like Illinois, that frankly spent like drunken sailors and are now trying to get the taxpayers and the rest of the country to foot the bill. That's not right. It's not fair to Texans. The state of Texas has lived within our means. Most states have lived within their means. Yes, the federal government should help with relief from this crisis and should focus on recovery. But no, we shouldn't be bailing out the profligate spending of states." (Sen. Cruz, "The Daily Briefing," Fox News, 4/24/2020)
WATCH: Cruz on Fox Business: "We Can't Spend Our Way Out of This Crisis"
WATCH: Cruz on Fox News: Federal Government Should Provide Relief, Not Bailouts for Irresponsible Spending
For COVID-19 information and additional resources, visit www.cruz.senate.gov/coronavirus/.
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