Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) who opposed disaster relief for the victims of Hurricane Sandy had his hypocrisy called out as he begged for federal dollars for Texas.
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Tur mentioned that Cruz voted for aid against Sandy, but now he is asking for money for Texas. Tur asked Sen. Cruz what he would say to those critics.
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Cruz answered, “Well, you know, look. There’s time for political sniping later. I think our focus needs to be on this crisis.”
Tur pressed on, “It’s not really political sniping, Senator. These are people who needed money and who needed funding right after that storm. I covered those people. Many of them, just like those in Houston, lost absolutely everything they owned.”
Cruz responded, “Well, Katy, Katy that’s exactly right, and the accurate thing to say is that I and a number of others enthusiastically and emphatically supported hurricane relief for Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane relief and disaster relief has been a vital federal role for a long, long time and it should continue. 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.”
PolitiFact ruled an answer similar to Cruz’s about the pork in the Sandy bill as false.
One could see Sen. Cruz start to crumble as soon as he was pressed on his opposition to Sandy relief. What Cruz didn’t mention in his answer was that he delayed aid to Sandy victims for a month.
Sen. Cruz also didn’t mention the reason why the Sandy bill was so expensive was that red state Senators required a bribe before they would vote for it.
As Forbes reported at the time, “Why, you might ask, would the Senate be packing billions of taxpayer dollars for these areas of the country that are nowhere near the devastation brought about by superstorm Sandy into a bill designed to bring relief to those suffering from the storm that ripped the northeastern part of the nation? The answer can be found in a quick review of the states that are set to benefit from the Senate’s extra-special benevolence—states including Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana.”
Ted Cruz tried to get out of his previous hypocrisy with lies, and when he couldn’t, he fell apart and offered some revisionist history that isn’t true.
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
