Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz painted a very graphic picture of how the Senate’s partisan bickering was affecting Americans in real time — especially those already suffering from coronavirus.
As many of his colleagues had before him, Cruz took to the Senate floor Monday to criticize his Democratic colleagues for blocking the bipartisan measures aimed at blunting the economic blows already coming from the coronavirus outbreak. (RELATED: Doug Collins, Matt Gaetz Announce Quarantine Following Contact With CPAC Coronavirus Patient)
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Cruz began his impassioned speech by calling his colleagues — on both sides of the aisle — to see past their differences and “rise above” the everyday bickering and partisanship that can cause delays on even the most bipartisan issues.
“There is a time for political disagreements. There is a time for policy disagreements. I am no stranger to robust political and policy disagreements,” Cruz said. “But we are in the midst of a global pandemic. People are dying. People are suffering.” (RELATED: Ted Cruz Asked Ocasio-Cortez, ‘What’s A Y Chromosome?’ She Went Ballistic)
Cruz went on to explain what the Senate’s Sunday night no vote meant – that they were unwilling to even take up the issue.
“The New York Times headline moments afterward said ‘Democrats Block $1.7 Trillion Stimulus Bill,'” Cruz added. “Of course, that headline had the fault of being accurate, and so within minutes the New York Times changed it. ‘Democrats Blocked $1.7 Trillion Stimulus Bill, Citing Worker Concerns.’ That was headline number two. But then apparently the partisan leanings of the New York Times were too strong for that, and so they revised it a third time to say, ‘Partisan Division Halts Discussion of the Bill. No, it wasn’t partisan division. It was one party, the Democratic Party, saying to this chamber, the American people, ‘Hell no, we won’t even take this up and discuss it.”
Calling the move “shameful,” Cruz went on to lay out the global impact of coronavirus and then focused his attentions on the United States.
“We have had an additional 6,484 cases today while the Democrats are blockading. And by the way, where are the Democrats?” Cruz asked. “C-SPAN doesn’t show this whole chamber often, but it would be nice if they did, because that entire side of the chamber is empty. They’re not showing up for work. They’re not doing their job.”
“As of this morning worldwide, there have been 16,381 deaths, so that’s — I’m sorry. That’s the number now. This morning, it was only 15,308,” Cruz concluded. “That means today, while the Democrats have been blocking this bill, 1,073 additional people died. In the United States, as of this morning, there were 471 deaths reported due to coronavirus. As of right now, it’s 573. That means today, 102 Americans died. While the Democrats were blocking consideration of this bill. In Texas, as of this morning, there have been eight deaths. Now there are nine. One Texan died while half this chamber refused to show up and do their job.”