Sen. Cruz Delivers Floor Speech to Maintain Funding for the Military, Including Coast Guard

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) delivered remarks on the Senate floor today in support of the Pay Our Military Act of 2023 introduced by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska). The bill ensures that the Army, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, the Navy, the Space Force, and, Coast Guard would be paid in the event of a government shutdown. In addition to his efforts to ensure our military members are paid in the event of a shutdown, Sen. Cruz published an op-ed in Stars and Stripes in support of his legislation, the 'Pay Our Coast Guard Act'.

During his speech, Sen. Cruz said, “Our military will still show up even with a shutdown. The military has to do its job and keep this nation safe, but what will happen is their paychecks will go away. … Never mind that you can't pay for groceries for your wife and kid that week. Never mind that you can't pay your rent, you can't pay your bills. Never mind, a Marine who's stationed in harm's way. Your paycheck is going to go away. Why? Because partisanship is so rife in this town that the Democrat leadership believed they could hold these young fighting men and women hostage and pay no political price.”

Watch the speech here

See the full transcript below:

Mr. President, I rise today in support of my friend from Alaska, in a plea to sanity and common sense in this body. We are three days away from an impending government shutdown. Now, I believe a shutdown is likely, because I believe President Biden and Senator Schumer want a shutdown. I think they believe it benefits them politically, to force a shutdown. Whether I'm right or wrong in that, everyone acknowledges there is a very significant risk of a shutdown 72 hours from now. As it stands right now, if we have that government shutdown 72 hours from now our servicemen and women will still go to work. Our military will still show up even with a shutdown. The military has to do its job and keep this nation safe, but what will happen is their paychecks will go away. Now, last week, Senator Sullivan and I both came to the Senate floor seeking to pass my legislation – the Pay Our Coast Guards Act. That legislation is bipartisan. I'm the ranking member on the Senate Commerce Committee, it was authored by me and co-sponsored by Maria Cantwell, the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. It was also co-sponsored by Senator Sullivan and Senator Tammy Baldwin, the chairman and ranking member of the Coast Guard Subcommittee. The reason my legislation last week was introduced is the last time we had a shutdown in 2019, ‘The Schumer Shutdown,’ the government was shut down for 34 days, and soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines were paid because the Department of Defense appropriations had been passed. But coast guardsmen were not because they're not under DOD. They're under the Department of Homeland Security. So, for 34 days, heroic Coast Guardsmen guarded our coast, saved people off the coast of Texas, were there when people needed them in times of disaster, and yet they didn't get a paycheck. That was wrong, and in 2019, Senator Sullivan and I came to the Senate floor then and tried to pass a bill to pay our coast guardsmen in the middle of ‘The Schumer Shutdown,’ and the Democrats objected. Democrat leadership said no, ‘we will not pay our Coast Guardsmen.’ Well, last week, I tried to say we got bipartisan legislation. Let's do it right. Let's not hurt brave young men and women who are protecting this country. Unfortunately, Democrat leadership stood up and utter two words ‘I object.’ And in fact, the senator from Washington had an argument that I found thoroughly curious. She said, Well, this bill that Cruz and Sullivan are trying to pass it wouldn't technically mandate that Coast Guardsmen be paid because what the bill provided is they should be paid if soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines are paid. So, it argued we should treat the military evenly and fairly and not discriminate against the Coast Guard. She said, ‘that's the reason I'm objecting, because it doesn't mandate that it happens.’ Well, you know what the Senator from Washington asked for is what we are right here now doing. This bill does what she said last week was the reason she was objecting. That's what this bill does. 10 years ago, this bill passed the Senate 100 to nothing. You and I were both in the Senate. That means you voted for it and I voted for it. That means the senator from Washington voted for it. It means the House passed it unanimously, but in the decade that has passed, I guess common sense has gone out the window. So, I want to say something right now. Every Soldier, every Sailor, every Airman every Marine, every Coast Guardsmen, every member of the Space Force. If you're a 19-year-old, private or corporal stationed at Fort Bliss right now next week there's a very good chance your paycheck is going away. We're gonna find out in just a few moments, whether or not your paycheck is going away. And just listen very carefully for two words. If we hear two words from the Senator from Washington, the words ‘I object,’ those two words uttered on behalf of Democrat leadership. We'll kill this bill, and when your paycheck goes away next week understand you would have been paid except for the fact that Democrat leadership decided it's in their political interest to hold that 19-year-old private hostage. Never mind that you can't pay for groceries for your wife and kid that week. Never mind that you can't pay your rent, you can't pay your bills. Never mind, a Marine who's stationed in harm's way. Your paycheck is going to go away. Why? Because partisanship is so rife in this town that the Democrat leadership believed they could hold these young fighting men and women hostage and pay no political price. I hope that Senator from Washington listens to what I've said and what the Senator from Alaska has said and decides, you know, it's not right. To hold these brave men and women hostage. We're not going to do it. I hope Democrat leadership puts principle above partisan politics, but we're about to find out.

Read the Pay Our Coast Guard Act op-ed here.

###