ICYMI: Sen. Cruz: Congress’ Tax Reform Bill is a Major Victory for Working Men and Women and American Families

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today appeared on Fox News’ ‘Fox and Friends,’ and KTSA’s ‘The Morning Edge With Trey Ware’ to discuss key victories for American taxpayers in Congress’ final tax reform bill. He also discussed his Student Opportunity Amendment, which was included in the final bill, and expands 529 College Savings Plans to include K-12 elementary and secondary school tuition and expenses for public, private, and religious schools.

On ‘Fox and Friends,’ Sen. Cruz discussed the Student Opportunity Amendment, which is the most far-reaching federal school choice legislation ever passed.

“The [Student Opportunity Amendment] takes College 529 Saving Plans – very popular plans, which are used across the country, where you can save in a tax-advantaged way for college, and expands them to K-12 education,” Sen. Cruz said. “It expands them so that you can use them for public school, for private school, for parochial school, for religious school. Every parent, every grandparent up to $10,000 per child, per year. It’s the most far-reaching federal school choice legislation ever passed, and it's in the bill.”

On the ‘The Morning Edge With Trey Ware,’ Sen. Cruz continued discussing his efforts urging his Senate colleagues to include homeschooling families in the Student Opportunity Amendment.

“The amendment that I introduced that was initially adopted was even broader, in that it explicitly included homeschoolers – the 1.8 million kids across this country that are homeschooled, and I was fighting for homeschoolers to have those same rights,” Sen. Cruz said. “Sadly, last night the Democrats raised a procedural objection to the homeschoolers, and they succeeded in getting homeschoolers carved out. I think it was wrong, I think it was discriminatory. I asked the Democrats last night, why they were telling homeschoolers – every other kid in America can benefit through this savings plan, with their parents own money. Why are they treating homeschoolers worse? One of the striking things, some of the language they took out allowed parents of children with disabilities to pay for educational therapy for their kids with disabilities and the Democrats objected to that, and got that struck out. That was unfortunate. And it shows just how much politics is playing out in Washington. That being said, even though we didn’t get everything we tried for, we’re going to continue pressing, and fight for the rights of every child in America and this represented a big, big victory to the schoolkids of Texas.” 

Sen. Cruz also discussed the provisions included in the tax plan that will benefit working men and women.

“There are a ton of winners across the country from this tax plan,” Sen. Cruz said. “If you’re a small business owner, you’re a winner, because you’re taxes are going down. If you’re a farmer or rancher, you’re a winner, because you’re taxes are going down. If you’re a working family, if you’re a school teacher, or a firefighter, if you’re a truck driver, you’re a winner because your taxes are going down. If you’re a struggling family, you’re a winner because the child tax credit is doubling – from $1,000 a child, to $2,000 a child. So if you’re a single mom with three kids, you know have a $6,000 tax credit, raising from $3,000. That’s real money in the pockets of single moms who are struggling. And the benefits cut across the board, so that working men and women – you know every taxpayer in America, your standard deduction has doubled. So that its $24,000 for a married couple – that means, the first $24,000 you earn, you don’t pay any taxes at all.” 

Sen. Cruz continued, highlighting the tax bill’s focus on creating more jobs and higher wages. 

“The central focus of this major tax cut is jobs, jobs, jobs. We want more jobs, we want higher wages, we want more opportunity. If you’re a young person, and you’ve got student loan debt, you want a good job offer coming out of school. This tax cut is really good news for you as a young person.” 

Sen. Cruz continued, “If you’re a steelworker, if you are someone who works with your hands in manufacturing, you should be thrilled today, because this Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, is designed to bring jobs back to America, bring manufacturing jobs back to America, and make America competitive on the global stage again. We want more jobs and higher wages – that’s what this plan is designed to do.”

Sen. Cruz on 'Fox and Friends'

Sen. Cruz on KTSA's 'The Morning Edge With Trey Ware'

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