The News with Sen. Cruz - October 31, 2014
This week we witnessed a tremendous victory for religious liberty. Last month, the City of Houston issued a subpoena demanding that five pastors hand over their sermons and correspondence. Together, thousands rose up and told the City to withdraw that subpoena. Americans defended our right to worship freely without fear of government intimidation, sending a message that was so loud and strong the City of Houston could not ignore it. And the City of Houston complied, withdrawing the subpoenas altogether. May these recent events strengthen our resolve to defend liberty and always uphold our God-given rights.
All the best,
Ted Cruz
Sen. Cruz Commemorates 50th Anniversary of Reagan’s ‘Time for Choosing’ Address
On Monday, Sen. Cruz penned an op-ed commemorating the 50th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s “A Time for Choosing” speech. Many concerns that faced Americans then are similar to the ones before us today. See highlights below.
A New Time for Choosing
There’s still great hope for America, but as Reagan knew, the people have to choose.
Fifty years ago today America faced a choice very much similar to the choice we face today.
On October 27, 1964, a clarion call was heard across the nation. America faced a choice, a speaker told us: We could either “abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves,” or we could reaffirm our belief “in our capacity for self-government.”
That man was Ronald Reagan and then, as now, it was a time to choose.
Today, the threats are every bit as dire. Over the past six years, individual rights have been attacked from all corners. In my home state of Texas, the City of Houston recently subpoenaed pastors, ordering them to surrender their sermons to City Hall. Powerful leaders from the White House on down have sought to take away Second Amendment rights from citizens all across America. Senate Democrats are supporting a constitutional amendment to repeal the individual right to free speech enshrined in the First Amendment. The IRS has illegally targeted Americans for their political beliefs.
The list goes on, but one thing is clear: The Obama administration, and the Democratic party as a whole, has shown an unprecedented disregard for our most fundamental freedoms….
Today, America has the lowest labor-force participation rate we’ve had since 1978. A record 92 million Americans over the age 16 are neither working nor looking for work. And Obamacare only makes it more and more difficult to make ends meet as employers have been forced to cut hours, jobs, or wages. Moreover, the average family is paying $3,000 more for their health insurance than they did before Obamacare was passed.
We are suffering the consequences of the misguided Obama–Clinton global strategy too. The notion of “leading from behind” has allowed tyrants and terrorists to pursue ambitious plans unthinkable six years ago….
Sen. Cruz on CNN’s State of the Union
Last week, Sen. Cruz spoke with CNN’s Candy Crowley about the importance of implementing flight bans from Ebola-stricken countries in order to prevent more cases from coming into the U.S. He also discussed the appointment of an Ebola czar and the mission against ISIS.
Regarding flight bans, the Senator said, “The doctors and experts that are saying [a flight ban is counter-productive] are repeating the administration talking points. Their arguments don’t make sense. The first argument about the screens doesn't make sense because they don't work during the 21-day incubation period, and the second argument they make is they say a travel ban would prevent health care relief workers from arriving in West Africa. No one is talking about banning flights into West Africa. And health care workers should of course be allowed to go in there and we can send them in on charter flights or military C-130 aircraft with appropriate safety precautions. That's very different from saying commercial airliners should fly day after day after day with hundreds of passengers connecting with thousands of passengers coming all throughout the country.”
Sen. Cruz Stands in Solidarity with Israel and Canada
Last week, Sen. Cruz released the following statement regarding terrorists recent attacks in Ottawa and Jerusalem.
The attacks in Ottawa and Jerusalem yesterday are stark reminders that while radical Islamic terrorism may have originated in the Middle East, it is not confined to that region. Our great and good friends in Canada and Israel were targeted because both countries share the same core principles of tolerance and freedom that we in America hold so dear—and which are hated by the vicious terrorists whose ultimate goal is to destroy us all.
In Ottawa, a brave soldier named Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was guarding the symbol of his country's national resolve when he was brutally gunned down by a recent convert to radical Islam, apparently aggrieved by Canada’s support for the operation against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. This episode is all too reminiscent of the attack on Fort Hood in Texas in 2009 when fourteen Americans were slaughtered on one of our key military installations in a claimed retaliation for Muslims killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In Jerusalem, a three month old baby girl, Chaya Zissel-Brown, was run over by a car driven by a Hamas associate who deliberately crashed into a crowd of civilians embarking from a commuter train. This innocent baby was in fact an American citizen as her parents had recently emigrated to Israel from the United States. This calculated targeting of innocents is all too reminiscent of the attack last month in Moore, Oklahoma, in which yet another self-radicalized Muslim convert decapitated a co-worker, Colleen Hufford, while screaming Islamist tenets.
The United States stands unshakably with our close allies as we continue the long fight against the enemy who does not distinguish between our countries. We empathize with their losses as they are our losses as well. Ultimately, our solidarity and shared commitment to the defense of our way of life is the source of our strength. As Prime Minister Stephen Harper said today, such episodes only ‘lead us to strengthen our resolve, to strengthen and redouble our efforts to work with our allies around the world and fight against the terrorist organizations who brutalize those in other countries with the hope of bringing their savagery to our shores. They will have no safe haven.’
Obama Administration is Intentionally Misleading Americans on Proposed Water Rule
Last week, Sen. Cruz joined with over 20 senators in sending a letter calling out the Obama Administration for intentionally misleading Americans about the negative impacts of the proposed “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule.
“Undoubtedly, there is a disconnect between regulatory reality and the Administration’s utopian view of the proposed ‘waters of the United States’ rule. We believe this reflects the EPA’s and the Corps’ refusal to listen to the thousands of Americans who have asked that the proposed rule be immediately withdrawn. Indeed, there have been several examples of bias against the proposed rule’s critics. For the record, we note here the ways in which the Administration has manipulated this rulemaking in ways that appear to be designed to prejudge the outcome:,” the Senators wrote.
In Case You Missed It
- Sen. Cruz: Zero Tolerance for Domestic Violence
- Sen. Cruz: The U.S. Must Lead the World Into a New Generation of Energy Prosperity
- Sen. Cruz op-ed: Republican Priorities for 2015
Sen. Cruz on Bloomberg – WATCH
