Sen. Cruz on Democrats’ Infrastructure Bait and Switch: $1.2 Trillion is ‘Gateway Drug’ for Tax-and-Spend $3.5 Trillion Liberal Wish List

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) this week joined Fox News' ‘Hannity' and CNBC's ‘Squawk Box' to talk about Democrats' bait and switch of the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure package with a $3.5 trillion Democrat wish list, along with the Biden-Harris administration's worsening border crisis and COVID mandates. Read highlights of his interviews below.

WATCH: Sen. Cruz Discusses Infrastructure Bait and Switch on Squawk Box

On the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package now before the Senate, Sen. Cruz said:

"This bill right now it has a price tag of $1.2 trillion. This bill is styled as a bipartisan infrastructure bill and it's supported by all the Democrats and somewhere between ten and 20 Republicans. We'll see where the final numbers fall out. If this bill were the only bill that were moving, if this bill were being offered in exchange for the massive $3.5 tax-and-spend bill that the Democrats are pushing, I think you would get very widespread, if not overwhelming, support for this bill. The problem is it's not being offered in exchange." (Sen. Cruz, ‘Squawk Box,' 8/5/2021)

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"In my view, the spending levels have gotten way beyond where it is irresponsible, and the impacts I think are profoundly harmful. They're harmful in the inflation we see increasing across the economy." (Sen. Cruz, ‘Squawk Box,' 8/5/2021)

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"My view, and I think the view of a majority of Republicans, is that this is effectively a gateway drug that is facilitating the $3.5 trillion bill." (Sen. Cruz, ‘Squawk Box,' 8/5/2021)

On Democrats' $3.5 trillion spending wish list coming next, Sen. Cruz said:

"The $3.5 trillion bill that is coming next in this chain includes within it trillions of new taxes, taxes that I think will hurt working families across the country. [...] I don't think any Republican will support the $3.5 trillion - it is a massive spending bill. It is really a liberal wish list, and it's paid for by massive new taxes, trillions of new taxes. Every tax you can think of going up. Corporate taxes going up, capital gains taxes going up, small business pass through taxes going up, individual tax rates going up, the death tax going up - I mean it is raising taxes at a massive level. I think that bill will have zero Republican support." (Sen. Cruz, ‘Squawk Box,' 8/5/2021)

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"We are on pace to be spending somewhere between $7-8 trillion this year - even for the federal government that is massive, and it is irresponsible." (Sen. Cruz, ‘Squawk Box,' 8/5/2021)

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"Inflation is a cruel tax on everyone, but particularly those with fixed incomes, particularly those who are seniors, where their expenses go up and their income doesn't match it. We have been blessed, we have had a decade where essentially history forgot with unusual inflation rates. I think today's policy-makers don't remember what double digit inflation looks like, but when you spend $7 trillion, you're really inviting that kind of punishing inflation." (Sen. Cruz, ‘Squawk Box,' 8/5/2021)

On the Biden administration's support of COVID mandates across the country, Sen. Cruz said:

"I think it's a mistake. My view on COVID: COVID is a serious disease. We as a country have taken extraordinary steps to try and defeat this disease. I'm glad we've taken these steps. We've also imposed enormous harms on our economy and people's lives and livelihoods and families. I think we need to balance those appropriately. My view on vaccines: I believe in the vaccine. [...] But I also believe in individual freedom. I don't think anyone should make you take the vaccine. I don't think the government should, and I don't think your employer should. I think you ought to have the choice to make your own medical decisions with your doctor. I have faith in people that they can weigh the pros and cons and make a determination whether or not to take the vaccine. It's been very troubling this week seeing Democrat politicians from Joe Biden to Bill de Blasio announcing vaccine mandates." (Sen. Cruz, ‘Squawk Box,' 8/5/2021)

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"So I think it is a mistake for companies to be mandating vaccines for their employees. We are seeing some employers that are doing this, there has been litigation over this. That litigation so far has largely not been successful. For example, in Houston, Methodist Hospital, a major hospital, issued a mandate to its employees forcing them to get vaccinated. A number of the employees filed a lawsuit, unfortunately that lawsuit got thrown out of court. I've introduced legislation that would provide civil rights protections for employees. If your employer tried to force you to get vaccinated, it would provide civil rights remedies." (Sen. Cruz, ‘Squawk Box,' 8/5/2021)

"They try to portray it as an extreme choice. They say, ‘If you think people should have individual choice, then you don't believe in science and you want everyone to die.' No. I believe in science. You believe in science. [...] In my view, there should be no COVID mandates. No mask mandates, no vaccine mandates, no vaccine passports. [...] It's not about the science, it's about them controlling your lives and the contempt they have for individual Americans making choices for their own families." (Sen. Cruz, ‘Hannity,' 8/4/2021)

WATCH: Sen. Cruz on Hannity: COVID Mandates Aren't About Science, It's About Power and Control

On President Biden's hypocrisy over COVID mandates while releasing COVID-positive illegal immigrants in Texas, Sen. Cruz said:

"We've had over a million illegal immigrants in the last six months under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and they don't care. Take the city of McAllen - releasing 7,000 illegal immigrants into McAllen, all of whom are positive with COVID. Put that in perspective. McAllen is a city whose population is about 141,000. That means 5 percent of the population of the city consists now of illegal immigrants who've tested positive for COVID that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are just dumping their one after the other because they won't enforce the law. Instead, what does Joe Biden do? He lectures the State of Texas, lectures the State of Florida. He cannot stand that our states are opening. He cannot stand our schools have been opening, cannot stand that people are going back to work." (Sen. Cruz, ‘Hannity,' 8/4/2021)

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"The Biden cages where they temporarily detain these folks, I've been to them. These tent cities where you have thousands upon thousands of kids packed in on top of each other, crammed in unsafe cages. When I was there a couple months ago, I brought 19 senators with me to see firsthand what was there. The rate of COVID positivity was over 10 percent. These Biden cages filled with kids are COVID incubators. All of these folks that lecture self-righteously about science, they don't give a flip about science, because they wouldn't be doing this if they did. They care about power and control." (Sen. Cruz, ‘Hannity,' 8/4/2021)

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