Press Releases

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today released the following letter commemorating Memorial Day. Friends, This Memorial Day weekend, in cities and towns all over America, small red paper flowers will be worn and carried by Americans honoring our veterans. The paper flowers symbolize the poppies WWI veteran John McCrae wrote about in his famous poem, “In Flanders Field,” after being struck by the beauty of the bright red blooms that emerged from the graves of his fellow...

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, this week participated in the Senate Armed Services Committee’s consideration of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). He introduced two amendments that were adopted by the committee. “I am encouraged by the bipartisan support of my colleagues for two of the amendments I introduced that will rightly pay respect to brave Texans and Americans and strengthen our international alliances," Sen. Cruz said. “One of the...

This Memorial Day weekend, in cities and towns all over America, small red paper flowers will be worn and carried by Americans honoring our veterans. The paper flowers symbolize the poppies WWI veteran John McCrae wrote about in his famous poem, “In Flanders Field,” after being struck by the beauty of the bright red blooms that emerged from the graves of his fellow soldiers. But it was a Georgia teacher named Monia Michael who began the tradition of wearing the red flower in...

WASHINGTON, DC -- Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn announced today that the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act passed by the Senate Armed Services Committee includes an amendment to allow the victims of Nidal Hasan’s terrorist attack at Fort Hood to receive the Purple Heart. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Cruz, expanded Purple Heart eligibility to include members of the armed forces who have been killed or wounded in an attack inspired or motivated by a foreign terrorist...

Politico: The VA's Socialist Paradise For the left, the Department of Veterans Affairs is how health care is ideally supposed to work. No insurance companies, no private doctors, no competition — just the government and the patient. Paul Krugman, The New York Times columnist, has held up the VA as a model for the entire country [a "huge policy success story, which offers important lessons for future health reform…yes, this is 'socialized medicine."] The Washington Monthly ran a...

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today spoke on the Senate floor in opposition to the nomination of David Barron to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. “Anyone who cares about property rights should be dismayed by this nomination and should vote against it if you don't want to see overly aggressive jurisprudence that allows the government to take your private property,” Sen. Cruz said. “Anyone concerned about free speech should be concerned...

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today asked FBI Director James Comey several questions about the Obama Administration’s failure to fully investigate the IRS targeting scandal. Specifically, Sen. Cruz asked: To date how many victims, or alleged victims, of improper targeting have been interviewed by the FBI? More or less than 10 victims? Can you tell this committee, to date, how many White House employees the FBI has interviewed for this investigation? The Attorney General...

The Los Angeles Times: Federal funds earmarked to offset Affordable Care Act insurer losses The Obama administration has quietly adjusted key provisions of its signature healthcare law to potentially make billions of additional taxpayer dollars available to the insurance industry if companies providing coverage through the Affordable Care Act lose money. The move was buried in hundreds of pages of new regulations issued late last week. It comes as part of an intensive administration effort to...

Reuters: Obama allies revive push for Obamacare CEO A group of healthcare experts close to the White House is urging the Obama administration to appoint a new chief executive officer to oversee Obamacare's online health insurance exchanges and safeguard the next open enrollment period that begins in six months. The recommendation, in a report due to be released by the Washington-based Center for American Progress think tank, calls for a major shakeup within the U.S. Department of Health and...

Forbes: How American Doctors Lost Their Professional Autonomy About the same time that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was botching the rollout of healthcare.gov, the agency also announced its successful creation of two mobile apps designed to help doctors keep track the stuff they get from drug makers. It lets doctors electronically tabulate (and report to the Feds) each consulting fee, pen, and jelly doughnut that they receive, right on their I-Phone. The aim of this de rigueur...

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today released a video honoring all the men and women who serve in our Armed Forces. The transcript is below. "Today is Armed Forces Day and I hope we can all take a moment to say 'thank you' to our veterans, to our active duty members, and to their families. "Write a note, make a call, or shake the hand of someone you know who has served. And take the time to pause and reflect on the great sacrifices millions of men and women have made throughout...

WASHINGTON, DC -- This week, U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) and U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions (TX-32) and his colleagues filed an amicus brief and joined a court challenge to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, specifically challenging the legality of that law. The PPACA, which effectively originated as legislation in the Senate, raises revenue through the individual mandate, which violates the Constitutional clause that requires any bill which raises revenue...

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today released the following statement commemorating the Brown v. Board of Education decision 60 years ago. "On May 17th, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that all children, regardless of race, deserve an equal opportunity to learn—an obligation that remains to be fulfilled 60 years later. "Brown was a landmark victory for justice, a unanimous repudiation of the oppressive doctrine of 'separate but equal.'  In...

Associated Press: Cost-Control Plan For Health Care Could Cost You [This so-called reference pricing, when presented as a choice as a health care contract in a free market is one efficient way to increase competition and reduce costs – but it should not be centrally planned by the federal government] The Obama administration has given the go-ahead for a new cost-control strategy called "reference pricing." It lets insurers and employers put a dollar limit on what health plans pay for some...

It’s graduation season and I had the privilege of speaking to the students of Stephen F. Austin State University this past weekend. I was encouraged by the countless stories of students, nearly half of whom are first-generation college graduates, who have worked hard to open the gateway to opportunity with a college degree. Click to view video As the Texas economy continues to grow, I want to welcome and congratulate our young people on a job well done and a world of exciting possibilities...

Bloomberg: Best Argument Yet Against Medicaid Expansion Opponents of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion have traditionally argued that it will significantly burden state budgets and provide people with substandard health coverage. A new academic paper suggests what may be the strongest argument yet against the expansion: that it will keep many beneficiaries in poverty because it creates strong disincentives for work. ...a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper [argues] that...

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today made the following statement regarding new emails between IRS employees and other government officials released by a watchdog group. “After emails showed that Lois Lerner was communicating directly with the Department of Justice, I sent Attorney General Holder a letter asking him to reconsider his decision to not appoint a special prosecutor in the IRS targeting scandal. And now today more emails have surfaced, this time showing that IRS...

From TribTalk: One San Francisco billionaire with a Super PAC shouldn’t be able to deprive thousands of lower- and middle-class Americans from good-paying energy jobs. Yet this is exactly what hedge fund manager turned green energy investor Tom Steyer has pledged to do by promising up to $100 million to Democrats for the 2014 elections on the condition that they oppose construction of the Keystone pipeline. Of course, Steyer is free to exercise his First Amendment rights, but it’s a...

From TribTalk: One San Francisco billionaire with a Super PAC shouldn’t be able to deprive thousands of lower- and middle-class Americans from good-paying energy jobs. Yet this is exactly what hedge fund manager turned green energy investor Tom Steyer has pledged to do by promising up to $100 million to Democrats for the 2014 elections on the condition that they oppose construction of the Keystone pipeline. Of course, Steyer is free to exercise his First Amendment rights, but it’s a...