The News with Sen. Cruz - November 7, 2013
Greetings,
As you have likely seen, the implementation of Obamacare continues to be a disaster. Many Americans are losing their jobs or having difficulty finding work, are having their hours cut, and millions are having health care plans they like cancelled despite promises from the President. This has to stop.
I am committed to doing everything I can to prevent the tremendous harms coming from Obamacare. We must repeal this train wreck of a law, and restore jobs and economic growth to our great nation. I hope you'll keep reading below for an update on that fight, as well as others going on in Washington right now to defend U.S. sovereignty and promote religious liberty.
All the best,
Ted Cruz
DEFENDING U.S. SOVEREIGNTY
Recently, Sen. Cruz joined the Heritage Foundation to discuss the limits of the U.S. government's treaty power as it relates to Bond v. United States, which was argued Tuesday at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Senator also penned an op-ed in the Washington Post, in which he notes that in Bond, the Supreme Court should again, as it did in Medellin v. Texas, say no to those who would undermine U.S. sovereignty and establish that the treaty power should not trump every other structural protection of our Constitutional government. Read and share the op-ed.
PROTECTING RELIGIOUS LIBERTY ACROSS THE WORLD
On Tuesday, we learned that Pastor Saeed Abedini, an American citizen, was transferred abruptly and without explanation from Iran’s Evin prison in Tehran to the even more brutal Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj. Pastor Saeed’s cruel imprisonment for peacefully practicing his Christian faith has gone on for more than a year.
Pastor Saeed’s situation has, however, now reached a crisis point. The prison at Karaj houses violent criminals on death row, and is infamous for the abuse of political prisoners. One international observer reported in 2005 that "Going to Karaj is a severe punishment. Once in there one stops to be a human being." Conditions have not improved since then. Our first priority has to be to get Pastor Saeed out of these terrible circumstances.
Once the immediate danger to Pastor Saeed is relieved, the larger issue is that such human rights outrages have no place in the civilized exchange between nations. Many Americans have been hopeful in recent months that the new president of Iran, Hasan Rouhani, would be a more moderate partner and work with the United States to peacefully resolve the international crisis over Iran’s nuclear program. Indeed, historic bi-lateral negotiations are slated to resume in Geneva later this week, based on the perception that there has been a material improvement in Iran’s historically hostile posture towards the United States and our allies.
Unfortunately, this harsh persecution of an American – made, not coincidentally, on the 34th anniversary of the illegal seizure of American hostages in Iran – could hardly be more clearly designed to send the opposite message. It is difficult to see how the Obama administration can engage in good-faith talks with the Islamic Republic of Iran under these circumstances.
Sen. Cruz commends President Obama for raising the issue of Pastor Saeed’s release in his telephone call with President Rouhani on September 27th. Given this recent action, he hopes President Obama now takes that request one step further and demands his release as a precondition to any further negotiations. The Iranian government should not be allowed to try to leverage Pastor Saeed’s release into American concessions over sanctions. Rather, the President should make clear that it is incumbent on the Iranians to demonstrate through this action that the rhetoric of their new president is more than mere lip service to gain economic relief.
Sen. Cruz is sure all his colleagues who value religious freedom would be proud to stand with the President in this effort because it is time for Iran to stop the chants of "Death to America" and start freeing the many prisoners of conscience suffering in unjust captivity in that country, starting with Saeed Abedini.
PRESIDENT OBAMA BRINGS BROKEN PROMISES TOUR TO TEXAS
Yesterday, President Obama traveled to Texas bringing nothing with him but broken promises. The President promised that Americans could keep their health care plans. We were told premiums would go down, that jobs would be created. Now we know these are all false promises.
Sen. Cruz released a statement saying, "Texas' economy is strong and our population is young and growing because our leaders embrace limited government, restrained spending, and competition. But in spite of all Texas has done to resist the biggest entitlement program of this generation, Obamacare is reducing health care options, increasing costs and hurting jobs. It has no place in Texas and must be repealed so we can empower Americans and their families by offering real health care choices rather than a government-written menu of plans they don't want and can't afford."
The Senator continued, "President Obama should take his broken promises tour elsewhere so Texans can continue focusing on the solutions that have allowed our state to become and remain the nation's economic and job creation powerhouse."