Cruz to America: Hold Senators Accountable on Border Security

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said on Tuesday that he thinks Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will block any attempt by conservative senators to launch a filibuster against the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill this week.

Conservative radio host Andrea Tantaros asked Cruz during an interview on her program if he planned to launch an old-fashioned talking filibuster if necessary so the American people could have more time to learn about the loopholes, waivers, and kickbacks in the bill before senators voted on it. While Cruz did not rule out such a possibility, he did suggest such a move would be unlikely because Reid and Senate Democrats will block any attempt at making it happen.

“I think what’s likely the way it’s going to play out in the Senate is that Harry Reid is not going to relinquish the Senate floor,” Cruz responded. “So, there’s not going to be an opportunity to do that.”

Cruz clarified that he does not mean to suggest the grassroots cannot help him and others stop the bill. “What this is going to come down to is ultimately the American people,” Cruz said. “It is likely that by the end of the week the Senate will vote on this Gang of Eight bill. The Gang of Eight bill is a mess.”

Cruz added that “there are 20 Republicans who are on the fence, who are wavering and who have not decided how to vote.”

“The most important thing that could happen this week is for grassroots conservatives all over the country to stand up,” he explained. “In particular if you don’t want to see a bill passed that does legalization now and postpones border security to sometime in the future where it will never happen, which is the exact same thing we saw in 1986 that didn’t work, there are two things grassroots conservatives need to do this week.” 

“Number one, we have launched a national petition. It is at SecureBordersNow.com,” Cruz said. “In just a week, we’ve had 100,000 people from all over the country sign that petition speaking out to say ‘Do not do legalization first. Secure the borders first, fix the problem.'”

Cruz said that the “second thing that is absolutely critical… is for everyone listening to this show, if you don’t want to see the same mistake of amnesty first and no border security, pick up the phone, call your senators, email your senators, email your House members, call your House members and tell them, ‘Do not pass this bill if it doesn’t secure the borders first.'”