Sen. Cruz: No COVID Government Mandates
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) continues to lead the fight against federal mask mandates and vaccine passports. Highlights of his push against the Biden administration's authoritarian guidelines are below.
WATCH: ICYMI: Sen. Cruz on the Ingraham Angle
Sen. Cruz joined Fox News' ‘Ingraham Angle' to push back against Democrats' narrative that masks are necessary for every American:
"I think it should be simple. There should be no mandates. No vaccine mandates, and no mask mandates. We should respect individual liberty. When it comes to vaccines I believe in vaccines. I've been vaccinated, my parents have been vaccinated, Heidi's parents have been vaccinated. Particularly if you are elderly or in a high risk category, I think getting the vaccine makes sense, but I also believe in individual liberty and responsibility. I think you are able to make that decision for yourself and look at the cost-benefit analysis and to make a choice about whether getting vaccinated is a good idea. I think for schoolchildren, we haven't vaccinated our girls. The cost-benefit analysis is different for kids. The rate of serious COVID infections is so low that trying a new vaccine for us doesn't make sense. Different parents make different decisions, but the left doesn't believe in individual responsibility, they don't believe in individual choice. They want the government to mandate -- you must obey. I've introduced legislation in the Senate to ban vaccine passports, to ban the government saying, ‘We're going to issue a document to make sure you've had a vaccine.' I've introduced legislation to end the mask mandate on airplanes. It's crazy that airplanes are mandating mask mandates. It doesn't make any sense, and Democrats are opposing this because they believe you don't have a right to make a choice for yourself."
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"I will tell you something from inside the Senate, on the question of masks, I've never been on the extreme on either side. I've never understood the people that want masks at all times no matter what, and I frankly never did with the people who said, ‘Never wear a mask no matter what.' Particularly, early on in the pandemic, it was a dangerous disease, I was willing to take reasonable steps to slow the spread of the disease. But I'll tell you, once I was vaccinated, I stopped wearing my mask on the Senate floor. There were just three of us, three senators out of 100, not wearing a mask. There was Rand Paul, me and Roger Marshall, and people looked at you like you had three heads when he walked on with no mask. I said, ‘I believe in science. Vaccines work.' Then suddenly, magically when Joe Biden was under some real political pressure, the CDC changed their recommendation and said okay."
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"Everyone took off their masks and now they are going back. By the way, if you want to encourage people to get vaccinated, this idea of the left, you're getting people to say even if you're vaccinated you've got to wear a mask. My answer to that is no, no, no, hell no. If you suggest nothing in your life will change, we are going to lock you in your bedroom forever even if you're vaccinated, people are going to choose to do so and it's a result of people who frankly, they believe in government power and they don't care about your individual freedom."
WATCH: ICYMI: Sen. Cruz Warns: We're Seeing Big Government States Want to Mandate Masks and Shut Down Again
Sen. Cruz joined Fox News' ‘Faulkner Focus' to discuss the CDC mandates and the administration's changing talking points on masks:
"Enough with the mandates. Covid-19 is a serious disease. Vaccines are important. I've been vaccinated. My wife and our parents have been vaccinated. It is a good thing to get vaccinated, but we're seeing big government states who want to mandate vaccinations and wanting shutdowns again and mask mandates again. Shutdowns were a failure. They destroyed lives and businesses and mask mandates don't make any sense. Fauci at this point now has embraced every position under the sun on just about every issue. Last year in his emails and publicly he was saying masks don't do everything and now he says mask everybody - even people vaccinated should wear masks. It doesn't make any sense. We need to use common sense and common sense does not entail having 3-year-olds wearing masks as we're vaccinating a very significant percentage of our population."
Read notable coverage of Sen. Cruz's leadership against COVID government mandates below.
Daily Caller: ‘Enough With The Mandates': Ted Cruz Says Dr. Fauci Has Become A ‘Saturday Night Live Caricature'
"Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said White House senior medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci has become a ‘caricature,' like you might see on popular skit comedy show ‘Saturday Night Live.' Cruz appeared on Tuesday's broadcast of ‘The Faulkner Focus' and criticized Fauci and others amid new warnings of going back to pandemic mandates. ‘You know, at some point Fauci became a ‘Saturday Night Live' caricature. Enough with the mandates,' Cruz said. He added that COVID-19 was a serious disease and that he and several of his family members took the precautionary measures to get vaccinated. But Cruz pointed out that a number of states were pushing for vaccine mandates, as well as for bringing back shutdowns and mask mandates, and argued that the previous shutdowns were a failure. He also said that Fauci has sided with "every position under the sun" on every issue, arguing that some of those positions did not appear to make any sense. ‘It doesn't make any sense. We need to use common sense and common sense does not entail having 3-year-olds wearing masks as we're vaccinating a very significant percentage of our population,' Cruz added. Faulkner concluded the segment by asking Cruz why he got vaccinated and he explained that it made sense for him and his family to get vaccinated. ‘Listen, people need to exercise common sense. I believe in individual responsibility and freedom,' Cruz said. ‘Every family ought to make that judgment based on your family members and loved ones.'"
Breitbart: Ted Cruz: ‘Hell NO' to Forcing Vaccinated to Mask Up
"Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) issued a sharp ‘hell no' to suggestions the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should advise people to both get vaccinated and mask up amid the spread of the delta variant in the United States. ‘No. No. No. Hell NO,' the Texas senator said in response to a suggestion from Jerome Adams, former surgeon general under former President Donald Trump, who made waves over the weekend after stating that both he and Dr. Anthony Fauci ‘famously, prematurely, & wrongly advised against masks.'"
ABC News: Increasing pressure on CDC to revisit guidance on masks in schools
"But Fauci also acknowledged that it created confusion to have different guidance for various settings. [...] The Biden administration though is in a tough spot. The CDC had been under extraordinary pressure earlier this year to show skeptical Americans the benefits of vaccination, including being able to go without a mask and not having to quarantine after being exposed. And so far, number studies have shown that all three vaccines - Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Moderna - protect people against all known variants. The vaccines also are shown to provide more durable protection than a natural infection. Also, any federal mandate for vaccines or masks would no doubt trigger a swift backlash among conservatives. Responding to the former surgeon general calling on CDC to bring back masks, conservative firebrand Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas tweeted: ‘No. No. No. Hell no.'"
RedState: Ted Cruz's Nuanced Take on Vaccines Should Be the Standard Attitude in Our Country
"Texas Senator Ted Cruz has a far more nuanced take that, in a more sane world, would be the standard view about them and it deserves to be heard. Appearing on Fox News's Ingraham Angle, Cruz told hostess Laura Ingraham that when it comes to taking a vaccine it should definitely be a choice one makes and that the suggestion that it become a federally mandated thing is very, very wrong. ‘There should be no mandate,' Cruz said simply. ‘There should be no vaccine mandates. There should be no mask mandates.' Cruz made it clear that when it comes to getting vaccinated, he's not against it and noted that he, his wife, and both his parents and in-laws have all been vaccinated. He encouraged the elderly and those at risk of suffering from its effects all get the vaccine. ‘But I also believe in liberty and individual responsibility,' continued Cruz. ‘I think you're able to make that decision for yourself. You're able to look at the cost/benefit analysis and make a choice about whether getting vaccinated is a good idea.'"
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