Dick Durbin Shuts Down Ted Cruz On The Senate Floor For Lying About The COVID Relief Bill

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) immediately shut down Ted Cruz on the Senate floor on Saturday after the Texas senator lied about undocumented immigrants receiving COVID relief payments.

“The statement of the senator from Texas is just plain false,” Durbin said, refusing to yield the floor back to Cruz.

“For you to stand up there and say the opposite is just to rile people up over something that’s not true,” the Democrat continued. “They want to be able to give speeches that say that checks go to undocumented people.”

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Sen. Durbin said:

The statement of the senator from Texas is just plain false. False. Let me be clear: Undocumented immigrants do not have Social Security numbers, and they do not qualify for stimulus relief checks, period. And just in case you didn’t notice, they didn’t qualify in December when 92 of us voted for that measure, and they don’t qualify under the American Rescue Plan. Nothing has changed, and for you to stand up there and say the opposite is just to rile people up over something that’s not true. … It is not true. And we know what’s going on here. They want to be able to give speeches that say that checks go to undocumented people. … No money going to undocumented people under the American Rescue Plan.

Republicans are hoping bigotry can bail them out

The more the American people learn about what’s in Joe Biden‘s American Rescue Plan, the more popular it becomes. This reality has put Republicans in a bind as they oppose the legislation.

Whether it’s Cruz falsely whining about undocumented immigrants receiving stimulus checks or Marco Rubio throwing a fit about transgender rights, Republicans are hoping bigotry can bail them out.

But no number of culture war distractions will be able to erase the fact that the Republican Party is about to oppose meaningful relief for the American people.

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Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.