Sen. Cruz Addresses Members of the Texas Farm Bureau
Participates in Q&A, discusses regulatory reform and NAFTA renegotiation
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today delivered remarks and participated in a Q&A with members of the Texas Farm Bureau. There, he discussed the major regulatory victories achieved in 2017 and his priorities for NAFTA renegotiation.
Watch Sen. Cruz’s full remarks here.
In his address, Sen. Cruz discussed the victories seen in 2017 for Texas farmers and ranchers, including major regulatory reform.
“Regulatory reform has been one of the greatest and unheralded victories of this administration and this Congress,” Sen. Cruz said. “Agency after agency after agency, we’ve seen reducing regulations...We have seen a change in regulatory environment where all across the state I’m hearing from Texas farmers, ranchers, and small businesses, that the regulators no longer are treating y’all like the enemy. No longer are trying to crush you. And that has resulted in Texans being far more optimistic, investing more capital, hiring more people, expanding their operations.”
Sen. Cruz also highlighted the effort to eradicate the fever tick as a major victory of the regulatory environment under Republican majorities.
“One thing that I’ve worked with the Farm Bureau on is the fever tick. Where we had issues with the Department of Interior not being willing to work cooperatively to address a deal with that. And I was pleased to go and work closely with Secretary Zinke and helping bring together Texas ranchers with the Interior Department to say, ‘We’ve got a common goal to eradicate the fever tick and not seeing it spread.’ That’s an example of a markedly different regulatory environment than we had 15 months ago.”
When asked about trade, he discussed his priorities for NAFTA renegotiation.
“We’re in the midst of NAFTA renegotiations,” Sen. Cruz said. “If we’re opening up markets and expanding trade that would be a good thing. On the other hand, if we’re erecting barriers to U.S. markets and decreasing trade, that’s a bad thing, and that will hurt Texas and it will hurt agriculture. Now within the Administration, there are conflicting voices. There are voices pulling in both directions. I can tell you what I’m saying, both publicly and privately, is that I am urging the President, the Vice President, the Chief of Staff, the Commerce Secretary, the U.S. Trade Representative, all of them I’m making the case - let’s open up markets, let’s not shut down markets. NAFTA is important.”
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