The News with Sen. Cruz - February 7, 2014
Texas has been and continues to be a land of opportunity. In 2013, Texas’ entrepreneurs added more jobs than any other state in the nation.
Yet, the Obama Administration is stifling our economic growth by extending the heavy hand of government into our towns, businesses, and families.
I hope you will keep reading for an update on my recent efforts to restore liberty and the rule of law.
All the best,
Ted Cruz
The Obama Administration's Assault on Texas
On Monday, Sen. Cruz released his third report on the Obama Administration’s attempts to expand federal power, specifically as it relates to federal encroachment upon the state of Texas. In it, he highlights ten cases in which Texas was forced to file lawsuits to prevent the Obama Administration from usurping powers reserved for the states, and five additional pending lawsuits challenging the Administration’s overreach into state governance.
“As Americans continue to suffer from a struggling economy, exacerbated by the misguided and botched Obamacare legislation, the worst thing the federal government could do is burden states that have managed to achieve economic growth in spite of the stifling federal regulatory environment. Unfortunately Texas must constantly defend itself against President Obama’s expansive view of federal power, and I applaud Texas’ legal challenges under the leadership of Attorney General Greg Abbott against this Administration’s assault on state sovereignty. I hope others will follow his lead."
In each of the ten cases, federal agencies tried to expand their reach, and in each case the courts repudiated their overreach:
- NFIB v. Sebelius (U.S. Supreme Court): Obamacare’s conditions on Medicaid funding are unconstitutional.
- Texas v. United States (U.S. Supreme Court): The Department of Justice imposed unconstitutional preclearance on Texas’ redistricting plans.
- Texas v. U.S. Department of Interior (Eastern District of Louisiana): The Department of Interior imposed an unlawful moratorium on offshore drilling.
- Texas v. EPA (U.S. Supreme Court): The Obama Administration’s EPA tried to expand its power by regulating greenhouse gases.
- Texas v. U.S. Department of Education (5th Circuit): The Department of Education illegally withheld from Texas $830 million in educational funding.
- Texas v. EPA (5th Circuit): EPA tried to override Texas’ program for incentivizing facilities to voluntarily comply with air permitting regulations.
- Luminant Generation Co. v. EPA (5th Circuit): EPA unlawfully blocked Texas’ air permitting program.
- EPA v. EME Homer City Generation L.P. (U.S. Supreme Court): EPA illegally imposed a cross-state air pollution rule.
- Texas v. Crabtree (Southern District of Texas): A Department of Commerce agency unlawfully promulgated an emergency fishing rule in the Gulf of Mexico.
- Texas Pipeline Association v. FERC (5th Circuit): A federal energy agency illegally ordered pipelines to report intrastate business activities.
President Obama’s Foreign Policy Belongs in the Realm of Fantasy
On Tuesday, Sen. Cruz spoke on the Senate floor about the reality of the United States’ current stance with dangerous nations abroad, despite the President’s fanciful claims in his recent State of the Union. Below you will find several key quotes:
"Mr. President, we're at a time where the classic 'The Hobbit' is one of the best-selling, most popular movies in the country. 'The Hobbit' is a fantasy story, and in Washington we were visited with fantasy last week in the President's State of the Union Address.
"I wish we all lived in the Utopian world President Obama painted on Tuesday, but in just one week numerous news reports suggest this world belongs more in the realm of fantasy than reality," Sen. Cruz said. "American leadership is not defined by global opportunities to ‘do good and promote understanding,’ contrary to what President Obama claimed last week. American leadership is defined by defending and promoting the values that have made our nation great. We do this not by ignoring unpleasant realities or refusing to admit failure, but by facing our challenges and accepting responsibility for our actions, while speaking out with a clarion voice for the freedoms we enjoy, which should be the aspiration of every man and woman on the planet.
"Regarding Iran, the President claimed, 'It is American diplomacy, backed by pressure, that has halted the progress of Iran’s nuclear program.' In reality, no enriched uranium has been destroyed and no centrifuges have been dismantled. In fact, the Iranians quickly refuted the President’s claim, since announcing that they have not halted their progress in the slightest. While billions of dollars now flow into Iran because of a recent and terrible deal struck to relax sanctions, there has still been no renunciation of Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorism that has killed Americans in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Iraq, and the mullahs have executed 40 people in the first two weeks of January alone. That should be no surprise knowing that Iranian President Hasan Rouhani has gloated, 'The Geneva deal means the surrender of the big powers in front of the great nation of Iran.'"
Promoting School Choice
Sen. Cruz spoke in Houston in support of school choice. "Every child in America deserves a fair chance and a quality education and it is an outrage that so many children are being denied that," he said. "School choice is about giving every child the opportunity to choose the best education possible."
Sen. Cruz Speaks with Glenn Beck on the President’s Lawlessness
Sen. Cruz spoke with Glenn Beck on his recent "Legal Limits" report. A few of the memorable clips are below:
"Central to all of [our constitutional] principles is the idea of rule of law. That we are ruled by laws, and not men, and no man is above the law, and we have never seen a President like President Obama who if he doesn’t agree with the federal law he refuses to enforce it, and he openly defies it… That ought to concern everybody, not just Republicans, but Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, unchecked power in the Presidency, an Imperial Presidency, is fundamentally inconsistent with individual liberty.
"What is striking as this keeps going on is where are the Democrats, where is the media, where is anybody actually standing up for the rule of law and the Constitution?
"The irony is that standing for principle is also a winning strategy. Good policy produces good politics, and sometimes people in Washington don’t seem to understand that: if you honor your commitment to your constituents, if you stand up and fight for liberty, that is how we win in November is stand for principle."
