Sen. Cruz Tours The Ion, Fights for Texas Innovation
HOUSTON, Texas – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce Committee, today toured the Ion Innovation District and participated in a roundtable with Rice University’s president and Ion’s leadership and tenant companies. The panel was centered around, “building Houston’s innovation economy.”
About the tour, Sen. Cruz said:
“The Ion is a perfect example of the kind of partnerships that are helping Texas and the United States to lead the world in innovation. Rice University, the city of Houston, and the tenant companies at The Ion are working together to find innovative ways to solve the problems facing Texans, and I’m proud to fight for them and for entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout Texas in the U.S. Senate.”
Other participants included:
- Rice University President Reginald DesRoches
- Executive Director of The Ion Jan Odegard
- Reginald DesRoches, Rice University President
- Paul Cherukuri, Rice University, Vice President for Innovation
- Jan Odegard, Ion Houston, Executive Director
- Christine Galib, Ion Houston, Senior Director of Entrepreneurship & Innovation
- Ali Llewellyn, NASA Johnson Space Center, Business Development & Technology Integration Office, Lead
- Nick Skytland, NASA Johnson Space Center, Chief Technologist
- Lara Cottingham, Greentown Labs, Vice President of Strategy, Policy and Climate Impact
- Stuart Corr, Houston Methodist, Director of Innovation Systems Engineering, Academic Institute
- Arturo Machuca, Houston Spaceport and Ellington Airport, Director
- John Lawrence, Rice Management Company, Deputy Chief Investment Officer
- Ryan Guerra, Skylark Wireless, CEO & Founder
- Kevin Doffing, Clean Energy Services, Chief Commercial Officer
Good, high-paying jobs are the top priority of Texans, and because of that, they are also the top priority of Sen. Cruz. He’s spent his tenure fighting for Texas jobs and innovation in the Senate:
- He helped enact historic tax reform in 2017, which gave a tax cut to virtually every taxpayer in America. It reduced taxes on small businesses, farmers, ranchers, and job producers, which has helped bring jobs to Texas and drive innovation.
- He is leading the fight against burdensome federal government regulations and EPA overreach.
- For his efforts to support Texas innovators large and small, Sen. Cruz received the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s prestigious “Spirit of Enterprise” award.
- Sen. Cruz has successfully advocated for Texas innovators and their work to be included in the annual National Defense Authorization Act and the biannual Coast Guard Authorization Act.
- Sen. Cruz worked with a bipartisan group of Texas legislators to call for the Biden administration to pick Texas as a future site for the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) and National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program (NAPMP).
- Sen. Cruz authored the Cost Recovery and Expensing Acceleration to Transform the Economy and Jumpstart Opportunities for Businesses and Startups (CREATE JOBS) Act, which would vitally reform business expensing in the tax code and help businesses and innovators thrive.
- Sen. Cruz championed the Facilitating American-Built Semiconductors (FABS) Act to incentivize manufacturing in the U.S. through tax credits. That legislation became law last year
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