The News with Sen. Cruz - July 18, 2014
The humanitarian crisis on the border is one of the President’s own making. Thousands of children are being trafficked across the border by drug cartels and criminals because of the amnesty President Obama illegally granted in 2012. We cannot permit these abuses of little boys and girls to continue.
This week I introduced legislation to halt the border crisis by stopping Obama's amnesty.
Please keep reading for a further update on the Senate.
All the best,
Ted Cruz
Stop Obama’s Amnesty to Stop the Border Crisis
On Thursday, Sen. Cruz introduced legislation to prevent the Obama Administration from using any taxpayer funds for existing legal authorities to expand DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and from continuing to lawlessly grant amnesty and work permits to immigrants who enter the country illegally.
Sen. Cruz said, “The staggering conditions that children are being subjected to are a direct result of the amnesty that President Obama illegally and unilaterally enacted in 2012, which caused the number of unaccompanied minors to skyrocket. The only way to stop the border crisis is to stop President Obama’s amnesty. If we do not put an end to its expansion – to the promise of amnesty that is the reason so many are coming – then more little boys and girls will be trafficked, abused, and even killed. We have an obligation to make sure that not one more child is hurt by this president’s lawlessness.”
Going forward, Sen. Cruz will advocate three legislative reforms to stem the flow of illegal immigration, reunite immigrants who arrived here illegally with family in their home nations, and protect the southern border.
Sen. Cruz Urges Democrats to Drop their Faith Fines Against Religious Organizations
On Wednesday, Sen. Cruz spoke on the Senate floor about the war the Democrats have waged on religious liberty, particularly the Catholic Church. Forty-six Senate Democrats are cosponsoring legislation to reverse the Supreme Court’s Burwell v. Hobby Lobby decision and force businesses and religious non-profits, such as the Little Sisters of the Poor, to authorize abortion-inducing drugs for employees or pay millions in faith fines.
“The bill that is being voted on this floor, if it were adopted, would fine the Little Sisters of the Poor millions of dollars unless these Catholic nuns are willing to pay for abortion-producing drugs for others,” said Sen. Cruz.
He continued, “Mr. President, when did the Democratic Party declare war on the Catholic Church?
“Let me make a basic suggestion. If you're litigating against nuns, you have probably done something wrong, and the Obama Administration is doing so right now. Mr. President, drop your faith fines. Mr. Majority leader, drop your faith fines. To all of my Democratic colleagues, drop your faith fines. Get back to the shared values that stitch all of us together as Americans.
“Mr. President, faith fines have no place in our democracy.”
Sen. Cruz Introduces Iran Sanctions Bill
On Tuesday, Sen. Cruz spoke on the Senate floor about the urgent need to reverse the longstanding and misguided Obama-Clinton-Kerry policy towards Israel laid out in a speech by Obama advisor Philip Gordon in Tel Aviv last week. Rather than pressuring Israel to make even more security concessions to the Palestinians while terrorist rockets rain down from Gaza, Sen. Cruz argued that the United States should support Israel’s efforts to construct aggressive defensive measures such as the security barrier and the Iron Dome missile defense system that have made Israeli civilians safer. He also announced that he intends to introduce a bill to re-impose relaxed sanctions on Iran.
“The connection between Hamas and Iran is a sobering reminder of the larger context in which the events of the last month have taken place,” Sen. Cruz said. “They are not an isolated local issue that could be managed if only Israel would act with restraint. Both the United States and Israel want the Palestinian people to have a secure and prosperous future free from the corrosive hatred that has so far prevented them from thriving.”
In his remarks, the senator noted that the Palestinian Authority bears the greater responsibility for the current crisis by including Hamas in their so-called unity government and that neither has displayed any interest in peace.
Sen. Cruz also announced that he will introduce legislation that renews strong sanctions on Iran, includes an enforcement mechanism to ensure these measures are implemented, and calls for the dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program, which should be the only path to relaxing sanctions in the future. He explained the importance of these sanctions to effectively addressing the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Sen. Cruz Speaks on the Democrats’ Extreme Abortion Legislation
On Tuesday, Sen. Cruz spoke in the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding S. 1696, legislation that is so overly broad it could be used to prohibit most, if not every, abortion regulation currently in effect. Sen. Cruz also entered into the record more than 300 letters from Texas women who have been hurt by abortion.
“The legislation that this committee is considering is extreme legislation,” Sen. Cruz said. “It is legislation designed to eliminate reasonable restrictions on abortion that states across this country have put in place. It is legislation designed to force a radical view from Democrats in the Senate, that abortion should be universally available, common, without limit and paid for by the tax payer. That is an extreme and radical view. “It is a view shared by a tiny percentage of Americans, although a very high percentage of activists in the Democratic Party, who fund and provide manpower politically. It is also a very real manifestation of a war on women, given the enormous health consequences that unlimited abortion has had damaging the health and sometimes even the lives of women.”
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