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WASHINGTON, D.C - As America's first responders face perils on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, a bipartisan group of senators is working to ensure families of public safety officers lost to COVID-19 can quickly access survivor benefits. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) joined Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in introducing the Safeguarding America's First Responders Act (SAFR) that clarifies the certification requirements for survivor benefits under the Public...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Senate colleagues sent a letter today to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) Acting Director Regina Lombardo encouraging them to protect peoples' Second Amendment rights during the coronavirus pandemic. In the letter they wrote: "As our country continues to respond to the pandemic, we are seeking additional information on the impact the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - As the Senate returns to session, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) outlines four critical priorities that Congress should focus on in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the economic crisis that has followed in his latest op-ed in The Hill. Those priorities include: Re-opening our economy and getting Americans back to work. Pushing pause on spending and not allowing Speaker Pelosi to hijack discussions going forward. Cutting taxes and lifting regulations to help grow the...

HOUSTON, Texas - Ahead of the Senate's return to Washington, D.C., U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, this weekend appeared on Fox News' ‘Justice with Judge Jeanine' and ‘Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo,' where he called for a fundamental reassessment of the U.S.-China relationship. In the interviews, Sen. Cruz highlighted his legislative efforts to unwind the U.S. from China, counter China's censorship and information warfare...

HOUSTON, Texas - Following the 10 tornadoes and other severe weather that hit North Texas last fall, U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and John Cornyn (R-Texas), along with Reps. Colin Allred (D-Texas), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), Roger Williams (R-Texas), Van Taylor (R-Texas), Mike Conaway (R-Texas), and Filemon Vela (D-Texas) on Thursday sent a letter to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Pete T. Gaynor in support of Governor Abbott's final appeal of FEMA's decision to...

HOUSTON, Texas - With more than 30 million Americans unemployed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, now more than ever, it's important that small businesses are best equipped to jumpstart the economy. Chambers of commerce provide valuable support to job creators and businesses, which is why U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today announced his intention to introduce legislation to ensure chambers have access to emergency relief funding provided under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The...

HOUSTON, Texas - U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging the Administration to reject states' efforts to receive taxpayer dollars for non-coronavirus related expenses, particularly bailouts for underfunded pension plans. In the letter, they wrote: "Americans expect that their tax dollars will be used for Coronavirus response, not to backfill decades of bad fiscal policy. As...

HOUSTON, Texas - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) today announced their intention to introduce the "Countering Chinese Attempts at Snooping" or CCAS Act, legislation to prevent Chinese surveillance and espionage by prohibiting U.S. federal employees from conducting official business over platforms run by Tencent, Huawei, ZTE and other companies the U.S. Department of State determines are controlled by the Chinese...

HOUSTON, Texas - U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Senate colleagues on Wednesday sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging him to engage the Mexican government in efforts to coordinate the designation of essential businesses in order to avoid disruptions in the U.S.-Mexico supply chain. In the letter, they wrote: "As Mexico continues its own shutdown of ‘non-essential activities' to reduce the spread of COVID-19, it has...

HOUSTON, Texas - In response to a disturbing trend of pandemic authoritarianism, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chairman of the Senate Judiciary's Subcommittee on The Constitution, today called on Attorney General Bill Barr to investigate state and local officials who target and discriminate against religious communities under the guise of protecting public health. In a letter to Barr, as reported by the Associated Press, Sen. Cruz highlighted several examples of state and local overreach,...

HOUSTON, Texas - With oil prices nosediving by nearly 70 percent and global demand collapsed, the COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on America's energy producers. To make matters worse, financial institutions and lenders have limited energy producers' critical access to capital, under pressure from Green New Deal enthusiasts. If this continues, the U.S. risks bankrupting a vast majority of its roughly 9,000 energy producers, adding hundreds of thousands of blue-collar workers to the...

HOUSTON, Texas - U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), and a group of 16 senators on Tuesday sent a letter urging Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza, to protect Second Amendment-related industries from discrimination by financial institutions. In the letter, they wrote: "Several of the nation's systemically important financial institutions use their market dominance to...

HOUSTON, Texas - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today announced his intention to introduce the "The Stopping Censorship, Restoring Integrity, Protecting Talkies Act" or SCRIPT Act, legislation cutting off Hollywood studios from assistance they receive from the Department of Defense if those studios censor their films for screening in China. This legislation is part of Sen. Cruz's comprehensive push to combat China's growing influence over what...

HOUSTON, Texas - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), along with Senate colleagues, on Friday urged Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, to support the development of a fully domestic rare earths supply chain and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign minerals that are critical for manufacturing our defense technologies and supporting our national security. In the letters to the secretaries, the senators wrote: "It is clear that our dependence on China for vital...

HOUSTON, Texas - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today issued the following statement in response to media reports that the Trump administration is moving to invoke the snapback mechanism in United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231: "I applaud the Trump administration for advancing toward finally and irreversibly ending the catastrophic Obama-Iran nuclear deal. I have long called for invoking the snapback mechanism, and it is absolutely...

HOUSTON, Texas - Following reports this week that more than 26 million Americans have filed for unemployment as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Friday appeared on Fox Business' "Varney & Co." and Fox News' "The Daily Briefing," to talk about his priorities for re-opening the economy and safely getting the American people back to work. Excerpts of Sen. Cruz's interviews are below. ON GETTING TEXANS BACK TO WORK "I'm glad Texas is moving forward with...

HOUSTON, Texas - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today announced his intention to introduce legislation preventing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from exploiting Federal Communications Commission (FCC) loopholes to propagandize to Americans from radio stations in Mexico or Canada, including through stations entangled with Chinese state-owned media outlets such as Phoenix TV. Upon announcing the legislation, Sen. Cruz said: "China should not be...

HOUSTON, Texas - With many of America's energy producers on the brink of bankruptcy and millions of jobs hanging in the balance as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas ) today sent a letter urging U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to ensure America's small and independent oil and gas producers have critical access to capital to keep their wells operational, their doors open, and their employees on payroll. In the...

HOUSTON, Texas - U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), David Perdue (R-Ga.) and 14 senators sent a letter expressing concerns with the impact that deteriorating global market conditions caused by COVID-19 will have on developing countries and the potential geopolitical implications of relief efforts. While the senators support efforts to provide aid for developing countries, in a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, they cautioned that the U.S. must be wary of...