Sen. Ted Cruz is getting shredded by fact checkers for his false claim that he opposed the disaster relief bill for Hurricane Sandy because it was loaded with pork.
Cruz defended his disaster relief hypocrisy to Katy Tur on MSNBC by saying, “The problem with that particular bill is that it became a fifty billion dollar bill that was filled with unrelated pork, and what I said then, and what I still believe now is that it’s not right for politicians to exploit a disaster when people are hurting to pay for their own political wish list. Disaster relief needs to be focused on the victims of disaster relief, and I supported that for Sandy for disaster relief there, and I support that anywhere where there was a major disaster without getting distracted by political unnecessary pork spending.”
The Washington Post fact checkers debunked the myth of pork in the Sandy bill, “The Congressional Research Service issued a comprehensive report on the provisions, and it’s clear that virtually all of it was related to the damage caused by Sandy. There may have been some pork in an earlier Senate version, but many of those items were removed before final passage. There were also some items that appear to have been misunderstood….Cruz is repeating a number of myths about the funding for Sandy disaster relief. The vast majority of the spending was for Hurricane Sandy, including elements (such as Smithsonian repairs) that some lawmakers incorrectly believed were unrelated to the storm. The slow rate of projected spending that Cruz had criticized at the time was actually based on how quickly the government had spent funds after previous major storms.”
Sen. Cruz lied because he won’t admit that he is demanding fast disaster relief for his state while opposing relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy. Cruz’s statement was a desperate that was designed to cover-up his previous hypocrisy. The money in the Sandy bill did go to Sandy victims. The only reason that Sen. Cruz opposed it was that the money was going to blue states, and he was grandstanding in an attempt to help his future presidential campaign. (It didn’t.)
Cruz flat out lied because, in typical Republican fashion, he can’t tell the truth about his own hypocrisy.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
