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V3n
04-19-2013, 01:24 PM
Ted Cruz, Bill Flores Asked For Federal Aid After Texas Explosion, But Voted Against Sandy Relief

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/19/ted-cruz-bill-flores-aid_n_3117356.html

The Huffington Post | By Will Wrigley


Texas Sen. Ted Cruz lambasted the Sandy Aid package, voting against the measure in January. Cruz issued a statement explaining that he voted against the aid because it included a number of spending measures that were not related to disaster relief, including "Smithsonian repairs, upgrades to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration airplanes, and more funding for Head Start."

However, in Washington Thursday, Cruz said that he was "working to ensure that all available resources are marshaled to deal with the horrific loss of life and suffering that we've seen" after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in Texas leveled the plant and nearby houses and business, claiming the lives of at least a dozen people and injuring hundreds more.

I may have been starting to think too highly of him.. hypocrisy?

itshappening
04-19-2013, 01:30 PM
Where does he ask for Federal aid?

tsai3904
04-19-2013, 01:32 PM
Many Republicans would have voted for Sandy aid if same amount of cuts were made elsewhere.

V3n
04-19-2013, 01:38 PM
Where does he ask for Federal aid?

Yeah, I'm not so sure.. the article references FEMA is in works, but doesn't directly connect Cruz to FEMA. And another article from The Hill connects a Congressman working with Cruz for aid.


Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas), the congressman for the district that includes Waco and the surrounding area, said congressional leaders he had talked to have promised to extend any assistance necessary.

"We’re ready for the call. We’re working with the offices of Sen. [John] Cornyn [R-Texas], Sen. [Ted] Cruz [R-Texas]. We’ve contacted the governor’s office and said ‘as soon as you make the call, let us know,’" said Flores Thursday on “CBS This Morning."

But you are right, I haven't seen any direct quotes from Cruz talking specifically about Federal aid. That's why I brought it up for discussion. ;)

BSU kid
04-19-2013, 01:40 PM
The thing is the Sandy bill wasn't just aid, it was filled with fluff and "extras". All the govs. and mayors wanted goodies, they wanted extra money for mitigation sometimes double the amount of actual damage.

DeMintConservative
04-19-2013, 01:55 PM
It's interesting how this "news" is gaining traction on the far-left media. It started with Kos, Reddit, now it made it to HuffingtonPost

Here's what Cruz said about the Sandy bill:



WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) made the following statement on the Disaster Relief Act of 2013:

Hurricane Sandy inflicted devastating damage on the East Coast, and Congress appropriately responded with hurricane relief. Unfortunately, cynical politicians in Washington could not resist loading up this relief bill with billions in new spending utterly unrelated to Sandy.

Emergency relief for the families who are suffering from this natural disaster should not be used as a Christmas tree for billions in unrelated spending, including projects such as Smithsonian repairs, upgrades to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration airplanes, and more funding for Head Start.

Two thirds of this spending is not remotely “emergency”; the Congressional Budget Office estimates that only 30% of the authorized funds would be spent in the next 20 months, and over a billion dollars will be spent as late as 2021.

This bill is symptomatic of a larger problem in Washington – an addiction to spending money we do not have. The United States Senate should not be in the business of exploiting victims of natural disasters to fund pork projects that further expand our debt.

The Sandy relief bill was a monstrous pork barrel festival. It was a vehicle for those guys to put some money back in their donors pockets and use taxpayers money to bribe their voters. And it was financed with more deficit.

So, wake me up when Cruz votes for an unpaid pork laden bill pretending to be an emergency relief bill for West, Texas (the guy hasn't even introduced a bill). Then it'd make sense to accuse him hypocrisy.

Until that happens, this just confirms that people rarely read beyond the title and that most in the left lack any sort of intellectual honesty.

Christian Liberty
04-19-2013, 01:57 PM
Sandy was a mess. Even still, unconstitutional is unconstitutional. Same bit here.

Ted Cruz already voted to give the Feds medical info. That's all I need to know. He's useless to me. I'll of course support him when he does the right thing, but he's not on the same team as I am. Still don't know much about Lee, but from what I've seen, he's good. Rand is walking a tight line, but understandably so and is doing fairly well.

erowe1
04-19-2013, 01:58 PM
Does Cruz support passing a bill for new funding like the Sandy one he voted against? Or is he talking about working with the executive branch in executing some function that's already been legislated? To me that would make a difference.

itshappening
04-19-2013, 01:59 PM
He hasn't said anything beyond a generic sentence that they're jumping on.

Pathetic.

Christian Liberty
04-19-2013, 02:01 PM
There's nothing the Federal government can do about this within constitutional constraints.

erowe1
04-19-2013, 02:03 PM
There's nothing the Federal government can do about this within constitutional constraints.

That may be. But if Cruz doesn't vote for something unconstitutional, then he hasn't violated his oath. I would view this like Ron Paul's acceptance of earmarks for his district. He votes against them, but once the legislation has passed he doesn't turn around and beg Obama to spend that money somewhere else.

TaftFan
04-19-2013, 02:15 PM
More Huffpost lies

Christian Liberty
04-19-2013, 02:18 PM
That may be. But if Cruz doesn't vote for something unconstitutional, then he hasn't violated his oath. I would view this like Ron Paul's acceptance of earmarks for his district. He votes against them, but once the legislation has passed he doesn't turn around and beg Obama to spend that money somewhere else.
True. And I get why Ron Paul did the earmarks too. But he voted against the budget. That's important.

Cruz already voted to give medical data to the Feds. As such, he's already a traitor anyways.

Carlybee
04-19-2013, 02:20 PM
Perry asked for aid but not before Obama called and offered it from what I understand. That being said we were turned down for aid after the horrific wildfires that decimated a large portion of the state a couple of years ago. Personally I wish we would just take care of our own. And we probably could.

Spoa
04-19-2013, 02:22 PM
True. And I get why Ron Paul did the earmarks too. But he voted against the budget. That's important.

Cruz already voted to give medical data to the Feds. As such, he's already a traitor anyways.

Here come the prefectionists...again. So anyone who casts one single vote you disagree with becomes a traitor? Even Ronald Reagan was willing to work with people he didn't agree with. And so was Ron Paul. Ron Paul and Justin Amash didn't always agree when they were together in the House...but Ron Paul didn't go around calling Amash a traitor. Senator Cruz is the third best senator in Washington D.C...PERIOD!

erowe1
04-19-2013, 02:28 PM
Here come the prefectionists...again. So anyone who casts one single vote you disagree with becomes a traitor? Even Ronald Reagan was willing to work with people he didn't agree with. And so was Ron Paul. Ron Paul and Justin Amash didn't always agree when they were together in the House...but Ron Paul didn't go around calling Amash a traitor. Senator Cruz is the third best senator in Washington D.C...PERIOD!

Even Ronald Reagan?

Christian Liberty
04-19-2013, 02:43 PM
Here come the prefectionists...again. So anyone who casts one single vote you disagree with becomes a traitor? Even Ronald Reagan was willing to work with people he didn't agree with. And so was Ron Paul. Ron Paul and Justin Amash didn't always agree when they were together in the House...but Ron Paul didn't go around calling Amash a traitor. Senator Cruz is the third best senator in Washington D.C...PERIOD!

I don't like Reagan anyway. I also don't care who a given person works with. If someone agrees with you on an issue, you work with them on that issue. I'm also not a politician, and so I can call people out when they violate their constitutional oath, as Cruz did.

Spoa
04-19-2013, 02:48 PM
I don't like Reagan anyway. I also don't care who a given person works with. If someone agrees with you on an issue, you work with them on that issue. I'm also not a politician, and so I can call people out when they violate their constitutional oath, as Cruz did.

I agree with this statement a little more, but did you really have to call him a traitor? The term "traitor" gets thrown around so much that you made it seem like his offense is so bad that he is as worst as Graham or McCain. Graham and McCain are traitors to freedom, Cruz made a bad vote. In my opinion, one should only be called a "traitor" after multiple bad votes.

V3n
04-19-2013, 03:31 PM
Ok.. well I guess until an exact quote from him saying the words "Federal aid" or until it comes up for a vote.. for me there's too much possible media manipulation here. I was very impressed with him during the filibuster, but I'm not totally sold over yet. I'll keep my eye on him. (and no, that single bad vote doesn't bother me much)

Krzysztof Lesiak
04-19-2013, 04:15 PM
I've never trusted Goldman Sachs boy Ted Cruz. He's a shrewd politician, but I'm skeptical that's he's an ally of liberty. Mike Lee is much better.

Professor8000
04-19-2013, 05:21 PM
The government of the State of Texas has a massive rainy day fund. We aren't exactly strapped for cash at the moment. Personally, I don't see a need for any Federal assistance at all.