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Good Evening, School choice is the civil rights issue of the 21st Century. For over a decade, I’ve been the leading the fight for school choice in the U.S. Senate. I firmly believe that every single child deserves access to an exceptional education regardless of their zip code, race, ethnicity, or socio-economic status. I was proud to sign-on to the resolution designating January 21st – January 27th, 2024, as National School Choice Week because building a stronger America starts in our K-12...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) joined the co-chairs of the Congressional School Choice Caucus, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), in introducing a resolution designating January 21st – January 27th, 2024, as National School Choice Week. Upon joining the resolution, Sen. Cruz said, “For over a decade, I have been the leading advocate for school choice in the U.S. Senate because I firmly believe that school choice is the civil-rights issue of the 21st...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) introduced the bipartisan and bicameral Scheduling for Community Health and Easy Data to Understand for Legislators to Evaluate Services (SCHEDULES) Act. The bill would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish a comprehensive standard for timing between referrals and appointments at VA facilities and to submit a report with respect to that standard. This legislation is based on...

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Good Evening, As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, this week I led 177 of my colleagues in Congress, alongside House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), in filing a bicameral Supreme Court amicus brief in the case Donald J. Trump v. Norma Anderson, et al. The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision in this case to keep Donald Trump off the ballot in Colorado wrongfully sidestepped the proper, Constitutionally-mandated role of...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) introduced new legislation – The Distribution Transformer Efficiency & Supply Chain Reliability Act of 2024 – that would bolster the U.S. transformer supply chain, an important part of electricity grids, by setting new realistic energy efficiency standards that help stabilize domestic transformer manufacturing to meet increasing demand without exacerbating existing supply chains or undermining American...

WASHINGTON, DC– U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, and U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) this week led a bipartisan coalition of federal lawmakers representing Texas communities in sending a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging him to quickly implement a key provision they included in the recently enacted 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that advances several international bridge...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement after Spokane County Superior Court Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren and San Diego Superior Court Judge Marian Gaston have not be re-nominated to the federal district court bench by the Biden administration. Following the failed nominations, Sen. Cruz said, “Since Judges Bjelkengren and Gaston were nominated to the federal bench, it’s been abundantly clear they lack the legal...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, filed a Supreme Court amicus brief in the case Donald J. Trump v. Norma Anderson, et al. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) led the amicus effort in the U.S. House of Representatives and was joined by Speaker Mike Johnson and 135 other Members of Congress. Sen. Cruz is joined on the brief by Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), John Barrasso...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Gary Peters (D-Mich.) today introduced the Source Code Harmonization And Reuse in Information Technology (SHARE IT) Act, bipartisan legislation that would require government agencies to share custom-developed source code with each other—thereby avoiding duplicative government contracts to build software. Upon the introduction of the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today issued the following statement amid escalating attacks by the Houthis against Americans and American interests across the Middle East. The Biden administration formally announced they were revoking terrorism sanctions on the Houthis in February 2021. Sen. Cruz has introduced legislation in every Congress mandating the re-imposition of those sanctions, in January 2022 and November 2023. Sen....

Good Evening, In 2023, my team and I were hard at work serving Texans throughout the Lone Star State. Over this past year, I was proud to fight for you and your family by creating new jobs, standing up for your freedoms, and putting pressure on the Biden administration to prioritize our national security. We had some incredible wins in 2023, and I look forward to building on those successes for Texans, and all Americans, in 2024!   Last week, I held a bipartisan press conference at the World...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) joined Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) in introducing the American Battlefield Protection Program Enhancement Act to conserve America’s historic battlefields. The bill would update the American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) administrated by the National Park Service (NPS) to preserve historic sites of armed conflict and battlefields across the United States. Since the creation of the ABPP in 1996, it has preserved...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), and Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and a bipartisan coalition of their Senate colleagues, introduced a resolution in support of Taiwan’s commitment to democratic elections and institutions, despite ongoing threats from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This resolution of support has been introduced in advance of Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections set to occur on Saturday, January 13. Sen. Cruz continues to unambiguously...

WASHINGTON, D.C.– U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) introduced the Orphan Well Grant Flexibility Act to empower states to maximize their operational flexibility within the Energy Policy Act of 2005 as they close abandoned oil wells. Orphaned oil wells often go abandoned and unchecked for years, and can pose serious environmental hazards by leaking toxic chemicals and contaminating essential water resources. Upon introducing the bill, Sen. Cruz said, “I am...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and State Superintendent of Public Instruction of California Tony Thurmond expressing deep concern following a “teach-in” conducted on December 6, 2023 by an activist faction within the Oakland Education Association Teachers’ Union. At least seventy K-12 public school teachers employed by the Oakland school district participated in this unauthorized effort to disseminate “educational...

Laredo, TEXAS – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, spearheaded the passage of legislation to streamline the permitting process for new and expanded bridges across the Rio Grande in Brownsville, Laredo, and Eagle Pass, Texas, into law. This victory was made possible by a bipartisan and bicameral coalition of Texas legislators dedicated to expanding Texas’s economy and enhancing our bilateral relationship with Mexico,...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) issued the following statement after President Biden signed into law a bill Cruz authored, requiring the State Department to produce a detailed report on efforts by the government of Venezuela to detain United States citizens, as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024. The Maduro regime has used a range of tactics to take Americans hostage. Following passage, Sen. Cruz said, “The Maduro regime continues to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) issued the following statement today after President Biden signed into law the Deterring Egregious State Infiltration of Schools’ Training (DESIST) Act, which was included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024. The bill prohibits the Department of Defense (DOD) from establishing or maintaining Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) programs at any private school operated or controlled by entities linked to the...