The News with Sen. Cruz - October 9, 2013
Greetings,
I am working to restore essential government services and provide Americans with meaningful relief from Obamacare. Republicans in the House of Representatives have passed multiple bills to fund critical operations that Democrats in the Senate refuse to consider.
Please keep reading for more information about what's happening in Washington and how we should get the government back to work while stopping the harmful effects of Obamacare.
All the best,
Ted Cruz
SENATE DEMOCRATS REFUSE TO NEGOTIATE
On Sunday, Sen. Cruz joined Candy Crowley on CNN's State of the Union to discuss how to end the government shutdown and prevent the harms coming from Obamacare. In particular, Sen. Cruz commented on a recently passed House Bill to ensure that our nation's veterans don't pay the price for Congress' failure to negotiate saying, "We need to honor our commitments to the veterans... Twice you said Harry Reid would say it's blackmail. I want to press back. I actually think that's a false claim with no basis."
The Senator added, "The bill that the House passed on the VA simply funds the VA. It doesn't mention anything about Obamacare. It doesn't mention anything about anything else. Now for hundreds of years, the way Congress appropriated is one topic at a time. How is it blackmail to say we think we should fund the veterans? Do you agree? That's a yes or no vote. Now Harry Reid refuses to let the Democrats vote on that. But how is it blackmail to say we may not agree on everything but is there anything we can agree on? We ought to agree on supporting our veterans." Watch and share the video.
FUNDING OUR VETERANS, PARKS, AND MORE
On Friday afternoon, Sen. Cruz joined several members of the Texas congressional delegation to welcome an Honor Flight of World War II veterans as they attempted to visit their own memorial, which unfortunately, along with national parks across the country, had been closed as a result of the refusal of Senate Democrats to compromise. After visiting with the veterans, Sen. Cruz had an opportunity to speak with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren about the Obama Administration's attempts to make the shutdown as painful as possible for the American people. Watch and share the video.
Earlier that morning, Sen. Cruz took to the Senate floor to offer four unanimous consent requests to follow the lead of the House of Representatives and provide funding for veterans’ benefits, the NIH, the National Guard, and national parks.
Senate Democrats blocked all four requests. The Senator noted, “We are in a shutdown because President Obama and the Majority Leader of this body want a shutdown, because they believe it is in the partisan interests of their party to have a shutdown. Four times, the House of Representatives has compromised. Four times, the House of Representatives has endeavored to meet a middle ground, and four times the Majority Leader and every Democrat in this body has said no, we will not talk, we will not compromise, we will not have a middle ground."
SETTING CONDITIONS FOR ANY FUTURE MEETINGS WITH IRAN
Recently, Sen. Cruz filed a resolution, S. Res. 252, in recognition of President Obama's offer to meet with Iranian President Hasan Rouhani at the United Nations General Assembly and the one-year anniversary of Iran's imprisonment of Pastor Saeed Abedini, an American citizen.
The resolution states that it is the sense of the Senate that before any future meeting between President Obama and President Rouhani, the Government of Iran should affirm the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, and also immediately and without conditions, release all United States citizens unjustly detained as prisoners of conscience in Iran.
Sen. Cruz also participated on Thursday in a prayer vigil in front of the White House to pray for Pastor Saeed Abedini's release. Pastor Abedini, an American citizen of Iranian heritage, was arrested by the government of Iran for professing his Christian faith and is serving an eight-year sentence under brutal conditions in Tehran's Evin Prison. At the vigil, Sen. Cruz said, "There is power to speaking the truth, there is power to speaking out against oppression, to speaking out in support of Pastor Abedini."
