The News with Sen. Cruz - January 16, 2015
This week I am pleased to announce that I will chair the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Space, and Competitiveness.
Texas has a long and cherished history when it comes to space exploration and my top priority as Chairman will be to help refocus NASA on its core priority of exploring space.
We need to get back to the hard sciences, to manned space exploration, and to the innovation that has been integral to the mission of NASA.
Please keep reading for an update on the latest in the Senate.
All the best,
Ted Cruz
Space Leaders Laud Sen. Cruz’s Vision for NASA, and Echo His Call to Fully Ignite American Imagination
On Wednesday, Sen. Cruz released a statement on his recent appointment to chair the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Space, and Competitiveness.
“In 1961, President John F. Kennedy laid down a marker for space exploration that inspired a generation of Americans to reach for the stars, recognizing that the race to the heavens was nothing less than a crucial front in the battle between freedom and tyranny,” Sen. Cruz said.
“More than 50 years later, we have lost sight of that clarion call. Russia’s status as the current gatekeeper of the International Space Station could threaten our capability to explore and learn, stunting our capacity to reach new heights and share innovations with free people everywhere.
“Texas has a major stake in space exploration. Our space program marks the frontier of future technologies for defense, communications, transportation and more, and our mindset should be focused on NASA’s primary mission: exploring space and developing the wealth of new technologies that stem from its exploration.”
Various Texans and thought-leaders within the space industry have voiced their support for Sen. Cruz’s chairmanship, including the following:
Walter Cunningham, Former NASA Astronaut and Apollo 7 Pilot:
“I’m pleased to hear that Senator Cruz will be chairing the important Subcommittee on Science and Space. In our discussions he has always shown a strong interest in furthering the core goals of NASA and Johnson Space Center. He wants NASA to return to the scientific and exploration standards that enabled our country to win the space race.”
Bob Mitchell, President, Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership:
“Sen. Ted Cruz has shared his vision for NASA with me a number of times over the last 12 months. I am excited about his appointment to the chairmanship of the Senate subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness. With his leadership and endorsement of NASA’s core mission of human space exploration, I believe that NASA will be able to continue unimpeded on its trajectory to take humans beyond low Earth orbit.”
Jean Marie Kranz, President, K6 Strategies and former senior advisor for space to Congressman Pete Olson, TX-22:
“I think it’s terrific to have Sen. Ted Cruz leading as Chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Science and Space.”
Bob Harvey, President and CEO, Greater Houston Partnership:
“Houston is pleased to have a Texan lead the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Space, and Competitiveness. NASA and the Johnson Space Center are a vital part of the Houston regional economy as they continue to press ahead with their next generation exploration mission. Through his new chairmanship and work as ranking member of the committee for the last two years, Sen. Cruz understands the issues and is well positioned to support NASA by fighting for the funding the agency needs and working to maintain the United States’ legacy in space.”
Read his interview with the Houston Chronicle here.
Sen. Cruz Calls on GOP to Keep Promises to American Voters
On Monday, Sen. Cruz spoke at Heritage Action’s 2015 Conservative Policy Summit outlining 10 critical priorities for Congress, focusing on jobs, liberty, and national security.
“For all the Republicans intoning we must get things done,” Sen. Cruz said, “if we simply settle into business as usual in this town and keep growing and growing and growing the leviathan and keep shrinking and shrinking and shrinking that sphere of individual liberty, we will demoralize the millions of men and women who came out in November and gave Republicans the biggest majority in the house since the 1920s. Not only will we not win elections, we’ll get walloped, and we’ll deserve to get walloped.”
Sen. Cruz added: “If each and every senator in January answers questions the exact same way we would have answered questions in October before the election, that will have a transformational effect. In my view, Republicans should take this opportunity to lead with a big, bold agenda that focuses on jobs, on liberty and on security.”
In his remarks Sen. Cruz laid out ten policy principles that Republicans should pursue in 2015:
- Embrace a big pro-jobs, growth Agenda
- Pursue all means possible to repeal Obamacare
- Secure the border and stop illegal amnesty
- Hold government accountable and rein in judicial activism
- Stop the culture of corruption
- Pass fundamental tax reform, making taxes flatter, simpler, and fairer
- Audit the Federal Reserve
- Pass a strong balanced budget amendment
- Champion school choice and repeal common core
- Deal seriously with the twin threats of ISIL and a nuclear Iran
Sen. Cruz Pens TIME Op-Ed on the President’s Failed Leadership in Paris
On Monday, Sen. Cruz published an op-ed in TIME.com regarding President Obama’s failure to participate in the Paris unity rally over the weekend, a dangerous sign of the lack of American leadership on the world stage.
See excerpts below. Full op-ed may be viewed here.
“We must never hesitate to stand with our allies. We should never hesitate to speak the truth. In Paris or anywhere else in the world.
“On Sunday, leaders representing Europe, Israel, Africa, Russia, and the Middle East linked arms and marched together down Place de la Concorde in Paris. But, sadly, no one from the White House was found among the more than 40 Presidents and Prime Ministers who walked the streets with hundreds of thousands of French citizens demonstrating their solidarity against radical Islamic terrorists.
“The absence is symbolic of the lack of American leadership on the world stage, and it is dangerous. The attack on Paris, just like previous assaults on Israel and other allies, is an attack on our shared values. And, we are stronger when we stand together, as French President François Hollande said, for ‘liberty, equality, and fraternity.’”
….
“In the last year alone, the world has become a much more dangerous place for Westerners, as terrorists have deliberately aimed their campaign of murder against those, most notably innocent civilians, who represent a free and open society.”
….
“Our freedoms are anathema to the radical Islamists, and they are willing to sacrifice their very lives to attack us with anything from meat cleavers to Kalashnikovs—anything to terrorize us into submitting to their brutal, totalitarian, warped version of Islam.
“Our choice now is either to confront this intolerable threat to our liberty, or to continue to respond to the attacks as if they are isolated incidents that we might be able to prevent if we would only stop somehow “provoking” them.
“If events in Paris teach us anything, it is the utter failure of the latter approach. It has not made things better. It has made them worse.”
Sen. Cruz Applauds House GOP for Passing Bill to Stop Illegal Amnesty
On Wednesday, Sen. Cruz issued the following statement on the passage of H.R. 240, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act:
“Today, the House of Representatives passed serious legislation that fully funds the U.S. Department of Homeland Security but denies President Obama any federal funds to carry out his illegal executive amnesty. I would like to applaud House leadership for its efforts, and also applaud the members of the House who fought successfully to have key language included to defund any expansion of the President’s illegal amnesty. It now falls to the Senate to take up the House bill, preserving those key provisions, and send it to the President, fulfilling our promise to the American people that we will put a stop to President Obama’s unconstitutional actions.”
Sen. Cruz Files Pro-Growth, Pro-Jobs Keystone XL Pipeline Amendments
On Tuesday, Sen. Cruz introduced three pro-growth, pro-jobs amendments to S. 1, the Keystone XL Pipeline Act, of which Sen. Cruz is a cosponsor. The amendments would expedite liquid natural gas (LNG) exports to World Trade Organization (WTO) members, repeal the ban on U.S. crude oil exports, and implement the North American Energy Infrastructure Act, which removes barriers to cross-border energy development, including the need for presidential approval of cross-border energy infrastructure.
Below is a summary of each of the Cruz amendments to the Keystone XL Pipeline Act:
Expedite LNG exports to WTO members (this language was introduced as S. 2083 in the 113th Congress):
- Requires that all WTO members receive the same expedited approval for LNG export permits that free trade agreement countries currently receive.
- Removes the uncertainty and unnecessary delays which have been caused by the arbitrary Department of Energy permit approval process.
- Does not change the normal Federal Energy Regulatory Commission process that each of these projects must go through.
Repeal of crude oil export ban:
- This amendment would repeal the various elements which limit U.S. exports of crude oil.
- Repeals the President’s authority to restrict oil exports (left over from the 1970’s energy crisis).
- Repeals the ban on exports of oil which cross a right-of-way over federal land
- Repeals the ban on exports of crude oil from the outer continental shelf.
Implementation of North American Energy Infrastructure Act (This amendment closely parallels H.R. 3301, passed by the House on June 24, 2014):
- Replaces the current patchwork system for approving cross-border oil and natural gas pipelines and electrical transmission facilities with a standardized process established by Congress.
- Eliminates the need for presidential permits for cross-border energy infrastructure.
- Requires approval of cross-border infrastructure with 120 days of final NEPA action unless the project is determined to not be in the national security interests of the United States.
