As many of you know, I am big supporter of Sen. Ted Cruz. After reading some alarming statements here in New Hampshire regarding his political record, I decided to do some digging! Here are the fruits of my labor…
FICTION: “Essentially, Cruz’s wife Heidi once worked for Merrill Lynch and is a Goldman Sachs Regional Manager, which is a little concerning, given, you know, the massive bailouts and their involvement with the Federal Reserve in deflating our currency and killing our economy.”
FACT: Heidi Cruz is a wealth manager in the Houston office helping families and foundations and is not connected with the company’s Washington operations. She has always been located in Houston while employed at Goldman Sachs. And, the division Heidi worked in was not connected to the portion of the bank that received bailout money. Her division would not have been affected even if Goldman had not received the bailout!
Heidi has taken a leave of absence from her work to focus full-time on the campaign with her husband. Sen. Cruz unequivocally opposes bailouts that reward big banks and corporations at the expense of American taxpayers.
There has also been some rumblings regarding Heidi supposedly working for the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Heidi never “worked” for the CFR, but she was a “term member” of the CFR (one of 4,500 members, I might add). She is NO LONGER involved with CFR but she did participate in a Task Force on the topic of free trade under the Bush administration. However, as a member of this task force, she vigorously defended and called for free-market principles.
“Economic prosperity and a world safe from terrorism and other security threats are no doubt inextricably linked. While governments play an invaluable role in both regards, we must emphasize the imperative that economic investment be led and perpetuated by the private sector. There is no force proven like the market for aligning incentives, sourcing capital, and producing results like financial markets and profit-making businesses.” (Emphasis added).
Lest anyone question where Sen Cruz stands on CFR, his record has been UNEQUIVOCAL that he believes CFR has been a pernicious force trying to undermine U.S. sovereignty – something Sen. Cruz has spent years fighting to defend. Indeed, Sen. Cruz has a proven record of fighting to defend U.S. sovereignty.
In Medellin v. Texas, Ted stood up to the World Court, the United Nations, 90 foreign nations, and fellow Texan George W. Bush, then President of the United States. He argued the case twice before the U.S. Supreme Court and won both times – successfully defending U.S. sovereignty from those who would seek to undermine it.
FICTION: “Cruz is a recipient of over $106,000 from foreign pro-war lobbies”.
FACTS: YIKES! This is one weird allegation. Let’s take a look. This $106,000 comes from groups or individuals deemed “Pro-Israel” with NONE of these donations coming from foreign entities. The vast majority of these contributions are from the 83 American citizens who contributed in their personal capacity. The remaining donations are from eight U.S. political action committees. Link
Senator Cruz is a strong supporter of Israel and has always been quite vocal about this fact. No smoke and mirrors here.
FICTION: Senator Cruz “voted to extend the Patriot Act”.
FACTS: Senator Cruz is a co-sponsor of the USA Freedom Act along with Senator Mike Lee and others. The legislation would end the NSA’s bulk collection of private data under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. Indeed, a part of the compromise legislation would extend other sections of the Patriot Act through 2017. (Surprisingly enough, Sen. Rand Paul did not support the USA Freedom Act even though it was reforming portions of the Patriot Act he has been most vocal about defeating.) You can read more on the legislative history here.
FICTION: Ted Cruz “sponsored a bill called the Expatriate Terrorist Act which would have given sweeping new powers to Obama to revoke the citizenship of anyone suspected of aiding a terrorist. Considering that no government report we have seen to date lists anyone such as ISIS or radical Islamists as “terrorists”…this bill was troublesome.”
FACTS: The Expatriate Terrorist Act does not give “sweeping new powers” to the president. The three-page bill expanded the definition for people subject to the provisions of the already-existing Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S. Code § 1481) concerning loss of nationality by native-born or naturalized citizens. The legislation amends the definition of coverage that already includes nations and political subdivisions to include designated terrorist organizations. It does not grant the president any additional powers nor does it alter the burden of proof for guilt. The author of this quote speculates wildly about who qualifies as “terrorists” while ignoring the fact that the State Department’s foreign terrorist organizations list is clearly defined. Link
FICTION: With regard to H-1B visas …“To some, this is proof that Ted Cruz supports open borders for unrestricted immigration which is said to be hidden in the bill and feel it’s just about the same as, if not worse than, Obama’s amnesty. The argument against Cruz’s H-1B visas proposal is that foreign workers will take jobs from unemployed tech workers here, as well as be willing to accept a cheaper wage.”
FACTS: Senator Cruz has never supported amnesty and never will. While deliberating the “Gang of Eight” legislation in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Cruz authored an amendment that would have expanded the number of H-1B visas allowed. Currently, the annual allotment of H-1B visa applications allowed is filled within a week of the application process opening. However, Senator Cruz did not support the final legislation because it included amnesty provisions.
For the record, H-1B visas are non-immigrant, temporary work visas. From the Department of Labor: “The intent of the H-1B provisions is to help employers who cannot otherwise obtain needed business skills and abilities from the U.S. workforce by authorizing the temporary employment of qualified individuals who are not otherwise authorized to work in the United States.
As for “cheaper wages”, the law establishes certain standards in order to protect similarly employed U.S. workers from being adversely affected by the employment of the non-immigrant workers, as well as to protect the H-1B non-immigrant workers. “Employers must attest to the Department of Labor that they will pay wages to the H-1B non-immigrant workers that are at least equal to the actual wage paid by the employer to other workers with similar experience and qualifications for the job in question…”
In a nutshell, it seems clear that the H-1B visa issue is not about finding cheaper labor OR allowing immigration in a permanent form.
Since his overwhelmingly successful campaign launch at Liberty University (and NO, students were NOT forced to attend Cruz’s speech – they are required to attend every weekly “Convocation” no matter WHO is speaking), the Leftists, Establishment Moderates, and other pundits have ratcheted up the false rhetoric. It will be up to us to actively inform and educate our public and vet the “Fact vs Fiction”.
Sen. Cruz will be at many events here in NH and you can ask him questions yourself. (Yes, he DOES answer them!) NH politics can be very exciting, indeed. Come on out and join the fun!