Sen. Cruz Calls on Congress to Focus on Getting Americans Back to Work and Holding China Accountable

WASHINGTON, D.C - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) appeared on Fox News' ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight', the Hugh Hewitt Show, and CNBC's ‘Squawk Box,' to discuss the next steps Congress must take to get the more than 30 million Americans who have filed for unemployment safely back to work, the economy back on its feet, and to counter China's censorship and hold them accountable for the spread of this deadly coronavirus.

Excerpts from the interviews are below.

ON GETTING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BACK TO WORK:

"We have got to get America back to work. We've got to get the economy moving. We've got to give people the opportunity to provide for their families and provide for their livelihoods. We cannot let this country fall into another Great Depression. And there are too many politicians in Washington, including Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats, who are not in Washington, because they've fled from doing their jobs, who are not focused on getting the economy back to work. We need to keep people safe, follow sound science, follow the medicine, but also get people back to work so that we can harness the power of the American free enterprise system to bring this economy back with the same roaring force we had three months ago, and the same prosperity we did. We can do it again, and that's what we're going to do." (Sen. Cruz, Hugh Hewitt Show, 5/6/2020)

"Nationwide, we've got in the last two months over 30 million people have lost their jobs. The workforce nationally is between 160 million and 165 million. That means we're looking at about 20 percent of the national workforce is out of work in just two months. On top of that, you have millions and millions of small businesses that are on the verge of bankruptcy. It is a level of economic devastation that none of us have seen in our lifetimes." (Sen. Cruz, ‘Squawk Box,' CNBC, 5/6/2020)

WATCH: Cruz on Hugh Hewitt Show: We Need to Follow Sound Science & Get People Safely Back to Work

WATCH: Cruz on Squawk Box: To Get Through This Economic Crisis We Need to Get Americans Safely Back to Work

ON DEMOCRATS' TRILLION-DOLLAR BAILOUT FOR STATES:

"I think in the course of this crisis we've seen remarkable bipartisan consensus in dealing with the crisis. Congress in the last two months, we have spent roughly $3 trillion. That's a massive amount of money, a staggering amount of money. And that included hundreds of billions of dollars that have gone to states and local governments. States and local governments are on the front lines dealing with this and that relief was important." (Sen. Cruz, ‘Squawk Box,' CNBC, 5/6/2020)

"Nancy Pelosi is talking about a trillion dollars or more that she wants to send to the state and local governments. [...] And I don't see any reason why the people of Texas should pay higher taxes to bail out states that have been irresponsible. [...] If we're focused on dealing with the coronavirus crisis, fine. But it shouldn't be an excuse to bail out states for irresponsibility and fiscally reckless policies that long preceded the coronavirus pandemic." (Sen. Cruz, ‘Squawk Box,' CNBC, 5/6/2020)

ON GROWING OUR WAY OUT OF THIS CRISIS:

"It's not like there's a magic money tree in Washington that is producing this money. This is money we're just borrowing. At some point the solution has got to be recovery, getting people back to work. It's why my focus is on tax reform and regulatory reform, reducing the burdens on small businesses so as they open their doors they can succeed and prosper and thrive. That's how we get out of this economic crisis." (Sen. Cruz, ‘Squawk Box,' CNBC, 5/6/2020)

ON COUNTERING CHINA'S CENSORSHIP:

"The problem with China, generally, is enormous. This should be a wake-up call to the entire world, this pandemic that is playing out. The problem of censorship is a massive problem. Within China, China's own censorship and cover-up of this pandemic, helped produce 257,000 deaths worldwide. And when it comes to Hollywood, Hollywood is not an innocent bystander here. Hollywood is fully complicit. Hollywood works with the Chinese censors. [...] The Pentagon assists Hollywood over and over again with access to planes, ships, assets, [in] about a thousand movies. I introduced legislation that says you don't get to use Pentagon assets if you're going to cooperate with Chinese censors. We're not going to facilitate Chinese Communist censorship." (Sen. Cruz, ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight,' Fox News, 5/5/2020)

WATCH: Cruz on Fox News: Hollywood Fully Complicit in Massive Problem of Chinese Censorship

Over the weekend, Sen. Cruz released an op-ed in The Hill outlining four critical priorities that Congress should focus on in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the economic crisis that has followed. Read the full op-ed here.

Throughout his career in the Senate and as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Cruz has long-warned that China poses the most significant long-term geopolitical threat facing America and our allies. To learn more about his efforts to counter U.S. dependence on China, censorship of Chinese citizens, coercion of Hollywood, Chinese propaganda aimed at American schools, China's efforts to intrude into America's airwaves, and spying on Americans, click here.

WATCH: Cruz on Fox News: Coming Out of COVID-19, We Must Fundamentally Reassess of U.S.-China Relationship

WATCH: How Chinese Censorship Led to a Global Pandemic

For COVID-19 information and additional resources, visit www.cruz.senate.gov/coronavirus/.

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