Speaker 1: Welcome. It is Verdict Live on.
Speaker 2: The Road at the Texas Youth Summit. Ben Ferguson. With
Speaker 2: you is Senator Ted Cruz. Senator. I feel like this
Speaker 2: is a hostage video. You are in Washington, held hostage
Speaker 2: right now because of a looming government shutdown. We know
Speaker 2: that the President, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, one of
Speaker 2: your best friends.
Speaker 1: They're excited about this shutdown.
Speaker 2: Explain to everybody what's gonna happen with a shutdown and
Speaker 2: how it's playing out.
Speaker 3: Well for this hostage video, I will try to refrain
Speaker 3: from blinking sos with my eyelids, but I am indeed
Speaker 3: trapped in a lunatic asylum.
Speaker 4: I'm in Washington, DC.
Speaker 3: My plan had been to be back there with you.
Speaker 3: I've been to the Texas Youth Summit multiple years. It's
Speaker 3: a fantastic gathering. Let me say to all the young men,
Speaker 3: all the young women who are there, who are standing up,
Speaker 3: who are speaking out, who are engaging and making a difference,
Speaker 3: making a difference in your community, making a difference in Texas,
Speaker 3: making a difference in the country. Thank you for your leadership.
Speaker 3: It is a great event. That's why I always love coming.
Speaker 3: But I'm right now stuck in DC because we are
Speaker 3: hours away from yet another government shutdown. And so if
Speaker 3: Congress doesn't act, and I think the chances of Congress
Speaker 3: acting are very very low, I think it is extremely
Speaker 3: likely that will have a shutdown. If Congress doesn't act
Speaker 3: by midnight tonight, then at twelve oh one am, funding
Speaker 3: for the federal government will end, and I think we're
Speaker 3: likely to have an extended government shutdown.
Speaker 4: I think it's gonna last while.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the politics of a shutdown. Each side
Speaker 2: has to have a calculation. They have these conversations who wins,
Speaker 2: who loses, and how this is going to be affecting
Speaker 2: their party. What is a shutdown? You've been through a
Speaker 2: couple of these, what are your concerns? And also there's
Speaker 2: some civility that should be in these shutdowns, that certain
Speaker 2: people get paid.
Speaker 1: And yet there are good.
Speaker 2: Men and women that protecting to find this country who
Speaker 2: Democrats seem to be wanting to play politics for them
Speaker 2: not getting a paycheck.
Speaker 1: That really bothers me.
Speaker 4: Well, there's a constrain of two things.
Speaker 3: One a basic constitutional principle that the federal government cannot
Speaker 3: spend money unless Congress has appropriated it. So what's causing
Speaker 3: this shutdown is the fiscal year. The federal fiscal year
Speaker 3: ends today September thirtieth, and that's where the appropriations run out,
Speaker 3: which means you need new appropriations. They're typically three ways
Speaker 3: that Congress will appropriate. One you can pass individual appropriation
Speaker 3: bills for particular government programs or cabinet agencies. That's called
Speaker 3: regular order. That's the way it used to happen routinely.
Speaker 3: That happens very rarely now. A second way to do
Speaker 3: it is you can pass what's called an omnibus, which
Speaker 3: is basically taking a bunch of those appropriations bills, combining
Speaker 3: them all together, and passing them as one gigantic, multi
Speaker 3: trillion dollar spending bill. That happens with some regularity. The
Speaker 3: third way is you can pass what's called a CR,
Speaker 3: a continuing resolution, and a continuing resolution basically just kicks
Speaker 3: the can down the road. It typically extends government spending
Speaker 3: for a finite period of time.
Speaker 4: So you could have.
Speaker 3: A one week CR, a two week CR, a thirty
Speaker 3: day CR, a ninety day CR. Just depends on what
Speaker 3: the sides negotiate. If none of those get passed, and
Speaker 3: I think none of those are the most likely outcome
Speaker 3: today is none of them will get passed today. Then
Speaker 3: what happens is federal government spending stops, but federal workers
Speaker 3: who are deemed essential workers still have to go to work.
Speaker 3: So for example, the military, if you're stationed in harm's way,
Speaker 3: the military still has to go to work because they're
Speaker 3: essential workers. Air traffic controllers. Everyone wants to get on
Speaker 3: an airplane tomorrow. Don't worry, you're not going to get
Speaker 3: on an airplane and discover the no air traffic controllers
Speaker 3: and planes are just flying willy dilly. Air traffic controllers
Speaker 3: are essential. They show up and go to work. And
Speaker 3: so there are thousands upon thousands of federal workers that
Speaker 3: are deemed essential who come in and go to work,
Speaker 3: but they don't get paid.
Speaker 4: They go to work, but they don't get.
Speaker 3: A paycheck now in the past, and also there are
Speaker 3: programs that are mandatory programs that are benefit programs. Those
Speaker 3: programs continue, so for example, Social Security and medicare the
Speaker 3: checks people are getting in the mail.
Speaker 4: Those checks keep coming.
Speaker 3: So that part, which is a big part of the
Speaker 3: federal budget, that continues automatically. What stops is discretionary federal
Speaker 3: spending that is non essential, and if Congress doesn't act today,
Speaker 3: that will stop at twelve o one am tonight.
Speaker 2: You are obviously a huge proponent of fiscal responsibility.
Speaker 1: I just pulled up on my phone the national debt clock.
Speaker 2: Right now, the national debts at thirty three trillion, one
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty one billion, four hundred and ninety four million.
Speaker 2: Debt per citizen highest we've ever seen a ninety eight
Speaker 2: thousand and six sixty seven a person.
Speaker 1: But not everybody pays taxes.
Speaker 2: That means right now debt per US taxpayers two hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty five thousand dollars three hundred and fifty three.
Speaker 1: Dollars and counting.
Speaker 2: You look at these government shutdowns, and the argument is
Speaker 2: we're trying to fight for more physical responsibility. What are
Speaker 2: Republicans need to do because this is a point where
Speaker 2: we're bankrupting not just this country, but the future of
Speaker 2: this country and the kids and the grandkids in this country.
Speaker 4: Well, look, that's exactly right.
Speaker 3: I think a shutdown is very very likely because the
Speaker 3: incentives of all the players are such that it's just
Speaker 3: inevitable that they're just crashing into each other. I think
Speaker 3: Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer both really want a shutdown.
Speaker 3: They have decided politically it's good for them to have
Speaker 3: a shutdown. Now, why is that? The reason they think
Speaker 3: it's politically good for Democrats to have a shutdown is
Speaker 3: inevitably one hundred out of one hundred times, the media,
Speaker 3: the official parents for the Democrat Party, blame every shutdown
Speaker 3: on Republicans that happens like night follows day, every yapping
Speaker 3: marionette in the media is going to do that. And
Speaker 3: so the Democrats are saying, hey, you know, biden agenda's
Speaker 3: going really badly.
Speaker 4: The border is total.
Speaker 3: Chaos, the economy is a mess. We don't want to
Speaker 3: talk about any of that. Let's have a shutdown instead
Speaker 3: and have all the media blaming those mean, terrible Republicans
Speaker 3: for shutting down the government. That's why I think Biden
Speaker 3: and Schumer want a shutdown. On the other hand, in
Speaker 3: the House, and this is principally a battle between House
Speaker 3: Republicans and the White House. In the House, Kevin McCarthy
Speaker 3: is the Speaker of the House, but he has just
Speaker 3: a four vote majority, incredibly narrow majority. What Biden and
Speaker 3: Schumer are demanding of McCarthy is complete and total surrender.
Speaker 3: Surrender altogether, fund every single one of our big government
Speaker 3: left wing priorities, and if you don't, we'll shut down
Speaker 3: the government.
Speaker 4: Keaven can't give in.
Speaker 3: It is impossible for Kevin to surrender the way Schumer
Speaker 3: and Biden are demanding, because if Kevin surrenders, his.
Speaker 4: Speakership will be over.
Speaker 3: You will see a House Republican member file what's called
Speaker 3: a motion to vacate the chair, and he'll be voted
Speaker 3: out as speaker. And so Kevin cannot politically survive surrendering
Speaker 3: to Biden and Schumer. Given those dynamics, I don't think
Speaker 3: Schumer and Biden are going to budge and I don't
Speaker 3: think Kevin can give them everything they want. I think
Speaker 3: we go to a shutdown, and once a shutdown happens,
Speaker 3: what happens next, Well, it ratchets up pressure. People start
Speaker 3: discovering things they're not happy about. For example, if there's
Speaker 3: a shutdown tomorrow, our national parks are closed. So maybe
Speaker 3: some of y'all were planning to go to a national park,
Speaker 3: go hiking in Yellowstone.
Speaker 4: All of that's closed. When there's a government shutdown.
Speaker 3: Maybe some families come into Washington d c and planning
Speaker 3: to come to the Smithsonian if there's a shutdown tomorrow
Speaker 3: the museums are all closed. Those tend to be some
Speaker 3: of the things early on that really tick off people
Speaker 3: interacting with the government. Now, the nightmare for Democrats is
Speaker 3: you have a government shutdown and the people buy and
Speaker 3: large don't notice.
Speaker 4: And I'll have to say it, awful lot of people.
Speaker 3: If you're not specifically using some federal asset or activity,
Speaker 3: you may notice very little is different during a government shutdown,
Speaker 3: and that's a dangerous lesson. Democrats don't want the American
Speaker 3: people to learn that. That being said, that the breadth
Speaker 3: of a shutdown varies because often Congress will have passed
Speaker 3: some appropriations. So in past shutdowns, we've always paid our military.
Speaker 4: That's what typically happens.
Speaker 3: And this week I've gone to the Senate floor three
Speaker 3: different times trying to pay our military. Now, and in particular,
Speaker 3: I want to contrast Ben what happened this week to
Speaker 3: what happened ten years ago. In twenty thirteen, we had
Speaker 3: a big government shutdown. I was right in the middle
Speaker 3: of that battle that was over obamac here. Government was
Speaker 3: shut down for sixteen days, but we paid all of
Speaker 3: our active duty military. That was actually a bill that
Speaker 3: passed right at the beginning of the shutdown. It passed unanimously,
Speaker 3: so it was a Harry Reid Senate. It was a
Speaker 3: Democrat Senate one hundred to nothing, paying our military during
Speaker 3: the shutdown, pass the House four hundred and thirty five
Speaker 3: to nothing. It passed unanimously, and Barack Obama signed it
Speaker 3: in the law. So ten years ago, everyone agreed, all right,
Speaker 3: if there's a shutdown battle, let's not hold our active
Speaker 3: duty military hostage. The most recent shutdown was twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3: It was the Schumer shutdown. It lasted thirty five days.
Speaker 3: During those thirty five days, Chuck Schumer had a showdown
Speaker 3: with Donald Trump. Schumer did not want to fund a
Speaker 3: border wall, did not want to fund additional resources to
Speaker 3: secure the border. Schumer wants open borders. We had a
Speaker 3: thirty five day shutdown. During that period, Congress had passed
Speaker 3: the appropriations for DoD for the Department of Defense. So
Speaker 3: that meant our soldiers, our sailors, our airmen, our marines,
Speaker 3: and our Space Force members all got their paychecks, but
Speaker 3: the Coast Guard did not. The Coast Guard is not
Speaker 3: under DoD. The Coast Guard is under DHS, the Department
Speaker 3: of Homeland Security, and so for thirty four days the
Speaker 3: Coastguard went with no paychecks. And I went back then
Speaker 3: in twenty nineteen to the Senate floor to try to
Speaker 3: pass legislation to say, let's treat the Coastguard fairman, Let's
Speaker 3: not discriminate against the coast Guard. Let's not treat them
Speaker 3: like the red haired stepchild of our millet terry. They
Speaker 3: deserve to be paid just like all of the other
Speaker 3: branches of the military. And in twenty nineteen, Democrat leadership
Speaker 3: stood up and blocked it, objected to that legislation, and
Speaker 3: so coastguardsmen went for over a month with no paycheck.
Speaker 3: Fast forward to today. This week, Dan Sullivan, Senator from Alaska,
Speaker 3: a good friend of mine and he's in the Marine Reserves.
Speaker 4: He's also a colonel in the Marines.
Speaker 3: Dan and I went to the Senate floor to try
Speaker 3: to pass a simple, straightforward bill. First of all, to
Speaker 3: pass the bill I authored that says if you pay
Speaker 3: the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, you should pay
Speaker 3: the Coastguard to so it was a parody bill. The
Speaker 3: Democrats stood up and objected. Pat Murray whose chairman of
Speaker 3: the Appropriation Committee, Patty Murray, she objected on behalf of
Speaker 3: Shumer and what she said as well, I object because
Speaker 3: this doesn't mandate that we pay everyone. It just says
Speaker 3: you treat him equally and Sullivan and I said, okay, great.
Speaker 3: So we came this week with Sullivan's bill, which is
Speaker 3: pay all of our active duty military. Pay our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, coastguardsmen,
Speaker 3: space force guardians, pay them all.
Speaker 4: The Democrats objective.
Speaker 3: They've objected twice, and so tomorrow, if our active duty
Speaker 3: military loses their paycheck tomorrow, it is because Democrats said
Speaker 3: two words yesterday on the Senate floor, and those two
Speaker 3: words were I object That killed the bill.
Speaker 1: What is your gut on democrats do?
Speaker 2: Are they going to fill the pressure to do the
Speaker 2: right thing, because you shouldn't hold these people hostage that
Speaker 2: are protecting and serving. But my gut is they probably
Speaker 2: say no, just because this makes too much sense and
Speaker 2: they want this to hurt.
Speaker 4: They wanted to hurt this week.
Speaker 3: One of the arguments Patty Murray made, she said, well, gosh,
Speaker 3: I want to pay the military, but I want to
Speaker 3: pay everyone else to I want to pay all the
Speaker 3: federal government, and so we need to fund the entire
Speaker 3: federal government.
Speaker 4: I make clear.
Speaker 3: Look, there's a nineteen year old marine right now at
Speaker 3: the DMZ that is facing North Korean machine guns, and
Speaker 3: that's fundamentally different than an ordinary federal worker. And the
Speaker 3: Democrats view is they care more about the IRS agent
Speaker 3: coming to harass small businesses in Texans. They care more
Speaker 3: about the regulators try to shut down oil and gas
Speaker 3: in Texas? Did they care more about the bureaucrats at
Speaker 3: the EPA trying to destroy jobs than they do?
Speaker 4: Actually?
Speaker 3: The brave young men and women who defend us, and
Speaker 3: you know, Ben, it's worth reflecting what's changed? So listen,
Speaker 3: ten years ago, everyone agreed on this. I pointed out
Speaker 3: repeatedly on the Senate floor. Patty Murray voted for this
Speaker 3: ten years ago. Chuck Schumer voted for this ten years ago.
Speaker 3: Dick Durbin voted for this ten years ago. What's changed?
Speaker 3: And I'll tell you what's changed. When we had this
Speaker 3: debate on the Senate floor yesterday, I looked up in
Speaker 3: the gallery. There were no reporters, completely empty. What has
Speaker 3: changed is the corrupt corporate media has become so thoroughly corrupt,
Speaker 3: that if you rely on CNN or MSNBC or ABC, CBS,
Speaker 3: NBC for your news, you have no idea that the
Speaker 3: reason our military is not going to get a paycheck
Speaker 3: tomorrow is because the Democrats decided to block it to.
Speaker 4: Hold them hostage.
Speaker 3: And the reason the Democrats do this is they know
Speaker 3: they'll never be questioned. I point out to reporters. Reporters
Speaker 3: are all running up to me in the Capitol this
Speaker 3: week and they're the they're and they're saying saying, do
Speaker 3: you think it's right that those terrible Republicans are going
Speaker 3: to shut down the government? And I laugh and I say, funny,
Speaker 3: how come you're not asking if I think it's right
Speaker 3: that that terrible Chuck Schumer and that terrible Joe Biden
Speaker 3: are going to shut down the government because they want
Speaker 3: to continue spending trillions of dollars we don't have. They
Speaker 3: want to continue driving inflation up to hurt people all
Speaker 3: across the country. And by the way, because they refuse
Speaker 3: to do a damn thing to secure the southern border,
Speaker 3: because they want these open borders, and they're willing to
Speaker 3: shut the government down on it.
Speaker 4: And I turn to reporters.
Speaker 3: I say, did you write a story about the Democrats
Speaker 3: blocking paychecks for our military?
Speaker 4: They're all like no, But I'm like, shut up, why
Speaker 4: are you talking to me.
Speaker 3: You are a parrot, you are a hat, you are
Speaker 3: a propagandist.
Speaker 4: You lie for a living.
Speaker 3: And if you want to prove me wrong, go sit
Speaker 3: down at your little typewriter and type a damn story
Speaker 3: about what I said and what the Democrats said, so
Speaker 3: that the soldiers back in Washington State. No, they didn't
Speaker 3: get a paycheck tomorrow because Patty Murray objected because she
Speaker 3: thought it was politically advantageous to hold their paycheck's hostage.
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Speaker 2: I love doing Verdict, by the way, because this is
Speaker 2: the call to action. I think it's clear everyone needs
Speaker 2: to call their senators, their congressmen and advocate for the
Speaker 2: pay of our men and women in military. We've had
Speaker 2: great success center with Verdict changing policy, but this is
Speaker 2: one of those moments where everybody listening, everybody watching, they
Speaker 2: need to make sure they call and reach out to
Speaker 2: their congressman, centaters and say do the right thing.
Speaker 3: Well, and I'll say also, right before we started recording
Speaker 3: the podcast, Christian Collins came out, Welcome to everyone. Christian
Speaker 3: is a good friend. I appreciate his terrific leadership. And
Speaker 3: he suggested to everyone subscribing to the podcast, and I'm
Speaker 3: going to tell you there's actually a very easy way
Speaker 3: to do so. So Ben, I'm relying on you to
Speaker 3: be my eyes here because I can't see the students
Speaker 3: get athered there. But I want to ask everyone, pull
Speaker 3: out your cell phone. Pull out your cell phone right now.
Speaker 3: Better their cell phones out.
Speaker 2: They're listening to you, they're doing it. They got their
Speaker 2: cell phones out.
Speaker 3: Okay, pull out your cell phone and text the word
Speaker 3: verdict V E R D I C T. Text the
Speaker 3: word Verdict to the number two four zero zero five.
Speaker 3: Let me give that to you. Again, the number is
Speaker 3: two four zero zero five. Text the word verdict to
Speaker 3: that number. What happens is you'll get a link back
Speaker 3: that you can click on the link and it'll subscribe
Speaker 3: you to this podcast. We do this podcast three days
Speaker 3: a week. We do it Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And
Speaker 3: the reason we do it is the corporate media is
Speaker 3: utterly broken. You cannot learn what is happening by watching CNN.
Speaker 3: All you can learn is the regime's talking points of
Speaker 3: what the Biden White House wants you to know. And
Speaker 3: so this podcast is designed every week we are breaking
Speaker 3: news and explaining what's going on that you can't get
Speaker 3: anywhere else. And really what it's designed. Look, you got
Speaker 3: a couple of thousand young people gathered there right now.
Speaker 4: Each of you.
Speaker 3: Has a circle of influence around you. You're talking to
Speaker 3: your friends and your family, and you're able to be
Speaker 3: champions for liberty. But you got to have the information.
Speaker 3: You got to know what's happening. And so this podcast
Speaker 3: is designed to give you the tools, give you the
Speaker 3: equipment so that when you're talking with your classmate or
Speaker 3: your next door neighbor, your buddy, or your boyfriend or
Speaker 3: your girlfriend, you.
Speaker 4: Know what the heck's going on.
Speaker 3: You know the facts, and you're able to be a
Speaker 3: whole lot more effective.
Speaker 2: Final question center for you, and this is an important
Speaker 2: one before we get to do what we both love,
Speaker 2: and that's Q and A when we do live Verdict events,
Speaker 2: is there is one story that this government shutdown is
Speaker 2: going to cover up. That is the impeachment inquiry to
Speaker 2: the Biden crime family and the President Knights America, Joe Biden.
Speaker 2: And also some shocking news this week that there was
Speaker 2: money to payments more than a quarter million dollars in
Speaker 2: this summer of twoenty and nineteen. We talked about this
Speaker 2: on a previous Verdict and if you missed it, go
Speaker 2: back and listen to it. That went to the Biden
Speaker 2: family and the address US was the address of the
Speaker 2: sitting president United States of America, now his Delaware address.
Speaker 2: Now what's interesting is in Hunter Biden's own memoir he
Speaker 2: said during that time he lived in California. We also
Speaker 2: know that in the Sweetheart Plea deal that Hunter Biden got.
Speaker 2: In that plea agreement, it also stated that he was
Speaker 2: living in California at the time of that wire transfer.
Speaker 2: I know the media is hoping this story gets covered up.
Speaker 2: But you combine that with this impeachment inquiry that's happening,
Speaker 2: this is a very important time for truth and what's
Speaker 2: coming out against what the Bidens were doing.
Speaker 4: Look that that is exactly right.
Speaker 3: And we do in addition to the podcast Monday, Wednesday,
Speaker 3: and Friday, we do a Saturday issue that is a
Speaker 3: best of week in review, and actually today's Saturday podcast
Speaker 3: focuses on one of the stories it highlights is exactly
Speaker 3: this story that that Hunter Biden had wired to him
Speaker 3: two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a quarter million dollars
Speaker 3: from communist China and the home address on that wire
Speaker 3: was Joe Biden's own residence.
Speaker 4: It was Daddy's residence. Now, listen, that's not surprising.
Speaker 3: Hunter Biden has no skills, he has nothing marketable, He
Speaker 3: doesn't do anything. When's the last time you had a
Speaker 3: complex job and you said, what I really need is
Speaker 3: a crackhead. That is not what Hunter Biden is selling.
Speaker 3: What Hunter Biden sells is Daddy. Joe Biden is the
Speaker 3: product favors from Daddy is what Hunter got paid millions
Speaker 3: and millions of dollars and tens of millions of dollars
Speaker 3: is selling favors from Daddy. And by the way, at
Speaker 3: the same time that that two hundred and fifty thousand
Speaker 3: dollars wire from communist China was coming with the home
Speaker 3: address of Joe Biden, Joe Biden was telling national reporters
Speaker 3: Hunter's never gotten.
Speaker 4: Anything from China, just flat out line.
Speaker 3: And one of the things we try to do with
Speaker 3: the podcast is walk through the actual evidence of what's
Speaker 3: going on on biden impeachment. The podcast is walked through
Speaker 3: chapter and verse the specific evidence, taking on, for example,
Speaker 3: the lie from Democrats and their puppets in the press
Speaker 3: that there is no quote, direct evidence of Joe's involvement
Speaker 3: in corruption.
Speaker 4: That's a flat out lie. We explain why.
Speaker 3: One of the things we covered this week on the
Speaker 3: podcast is the evidence that broke that there were three
Speaker 3: Iranian operatives assets being managed by the Iranian government who
Speaker 3: were working in senior positions of influence with the Biden administration,
Speaker 3: helping set national security policy for.
Speaker 4: The Biden administration.
Speaker 3: You literally have people controlled by the Ayatola and the
Speaker 3: Malas in Iran in senior positions advising on or working
Speaker 3: on Biden's national security Right now, there's still one of
Speaker 3: them at the Department of Defense, still drawing a paycheck
Speaker 3: with a security clearance, even though that person is an
Speaker 3: Iranian asset.
Speaker 2: It's unbelievable. I want to get questions. This is something
Speaker 2: that you and I both love, and so you guys
Speaker 2: come up to these microphones you asked questions. I would
Speaker 2: ask you, since we are remote, keep them short and
Speaker 2: concise so that we can make sure that we get
Speaker 2: as many as possible in here.
Speaker 1: If you'll also.
Speaker 2: State your name and where you live and send it
Speaker 2: were a little bit of Q and A. We'll start
Speaker 2: over there.
Speaker 1: Go ahead.
Speaker 5: Hello, my name is Chloe Castillo. I'm from San Antonio, Texas.
Speaker 5: Thank you so much for being here today, mister Kruz.
Speaker 5: So my question for you is kind of a cultural question.
Speaker 5: With your recent pushback on Uganda regarding homosexual crimes, what
Speaker 5: are your thoughts on how the Western popular music culture
Speaker 5: actively pushes the LGBTQ agenda on our youth.
Speaker 4: Look, Chloe, it's it's it's a great question.
Speaker 3: And there's no doubt that Hollywood and the entertainment media
Speaker 3: as a whole pushes a radical left wing agenda, and
Speaker 3: that includes LGBTQ Elemento p I can't keep up with.
Speaker 4: All the letters that are attached to it now. But
Speaker 4: but they push.
Speaker 3: All of that that they push the transgender agenda. That
Speaker 3: they're obsessive in pushing the transgender agenda and pushing it
Speaker 3: on kids, pushing it on kids as young as they
Speaker 3: can find it. I mean, look, we recently had Target
Speaker 3: who was exposed selling selling bathing suits, uh for for
Speaker 3: infants and for toddlers, for little boys to tuck to
Speaker 3: hide their genitals, to pretend to be girls. And this
Speaker 3: is this is being marketed to two and three year olds.
Speaker 3: There is a pervasive effort to brainwash it, in particular
Speaker 3: brainwash kids. I think it is incredibly dangerous. I've got
Speaker 3: a new book that is coming out next month in November.
Speaker 3: The name of the book is Unwoke, How to Defeat Cultural.
Speaker 4: Marxism in America.
Speaker 3: And what the book does, It talks through every major
Speaker 3: or many of the major organs of society that the
Speaker 3: radical left has see. So it starts with universities, it
Speaker 3: goes to K through twelve education, It goes to journalism,
Speaker 3: it goes to entertainment, music, sports, it goes to science,
Speaker 3: it goes to big tech.
Speaker 4: It goes to big business.
Speaker 3: I actually talk quite a bit about Target, Target and
Speaker 3: bud Light together. That's a big chunk of the chapter
Speaker 3: on big business because the reaction to that between bud
Speaker 3: Light and Target, that's the first time we've seen real
Speaker 3: consequences to corporate America undermining.
Speaker 4: Our basic values. And so, you know, you.
Speaker 3: Mentioned you've gotten to made it a criminal offense to
Speaker 3: engage in homosexual conduct. I don't support that. I'm actually
Speaker 3: quite libertarian in my leaning. I think what consenting adults
Speaker 3: want to do in their own bedroom is their own
Speaker 3: damn business, and so I don't think it should be
Speaker 3: a criminal offense whatever you choose to do in that regard.
Speaker 3: But there's a big difference between saying consenting adults can
Speaker 3: decide what to do in their own sex lives and
Speaker 3: saying that you want to see a radical agenda proselytized
Speaker 3: to children and normalized. Listen, I am. I'm a Christian.
Speaker 3: The Bible teaches that marriage is the union of one
Speaker 3: man and one woman. Those are my beliefs. That's that's
Speaker 3: certainly what I teach and what I believe, and I'm
Speaker 3: not interested in in having an agenda shoved out our throat,
Speaker 3: and I think we need to be in all of
Speaker 3: these topics.
Speaker 4: We need to be happy warriors. We need to be.
Speaker 3: Saying what we believe with a smile because the other side.
Speaker 4: Is so angry.
Speaker 1: Let's go over here, senter, You're gonna love this.
Speaker 2: The T shirts of the Texas Youth Summit are don't
Speaker 2: tread on Me, which is awesome. And our next question
Speaker 2: is coming from some of that has that T shirt
Speaker 2: and I love it.
Speaker 1: Well done.
Speaker 6: Hello, Senator Cruz. My name is Jenna. I go to
Speaker 6: u of H here and I work at a tax
Speaker 6: room as a tax consultant, and the tax deadline is
Speaker 6: coming up October eighteenth, and I was wondering how the
Speaker 6: government shutdown is going to affect the IRS and the
Speaker 6: accounting industry regarding that deadline that's coming up, and if
Speaker 6: you could explain kind of what's going to have.
Speaker 4: Yeah, look, that's a very good question.
Speaker 3: And I expect that if the shutdown goes long, and
Speaker 3: it could easily go a month. The last one was
Speaker 3: thirty five days and twenty nineteen, the Schumer shutdown, it
Speaker 3: could easily go a month.
Speaker 4: What it would mean as.
Speaker 3: A practical matter, is that much of the manpower at
Speaker 3: the IRS that would be available to assist you, that
Speaker 3: would be available to process returns, that would be available
Speaker 3: to answer questions, much of that manpower is not going
Speaker 3: to be there. They will keep essential workers, and it's
Speaker 3: up to eat each agent see to decide.
Speaker 4: Who is essential.
Speaker 3: But things like customer service almost always get deemed non
Speaker 3: essential and you end up with a significantly reduced workforce.
Speaker 3: And so you're working at a private firm, that that's
Speaker 3: going to mean that your clients are going to need
Speaker 3: your advice more significantly because the IRS is going to
Speaker 3: be less available to be responsive, even less than they
Speaker 3: normally are.
Speaker 1: Let's take a question from over here.
Speaker 7: Hi, Senator Cruz, my name is Helen and I'm from
Speaker 7: the Woodlands. My question to you is are you in
Speaker 7: favor of the age and term limits to be elected
Speaker 7: for Senate and Congress?
Speaker 4: Thank you, Helen, Thank you for that question.
Speaker 3: So let me break them down one at a time.
Speaker 3: You asked about age limits and term limits. On age limits,
Speaker 3: the only age limit we have for the Senate is
Speaker 3: the Constitution.
Speaker 4: So the Constitution.
Speaker 3: Provides that you have to be twenty five years old
Speaker 3: to be elected to the House of representatives. You have
Speaker 3: to be thirty years old to be elected to the Senate,
Speaker 3: and you have to be thirty five years old to
Speaker 3: be elected president. Other than that, there are currently no
Speaker 3: limits when it comes to serving in federal elected office,
Speaker 3: and it's one of the reasons why you see so
Speaker 3: many people in the Senate who.
Speaker 4: Are one hundred and forty two years old.
Speaker 3: I have joked, if you ever want to feel young,
Speaker 3: come work in the US Senate, because the median age
Speaker 3: is such that I have colleagues reminiscing about Eisenhower. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's you know, I feel like a sprightly young lad
Speaker 3: in the body in which I serve. Term limits is
Speaker 3: something that I emphatically support, and so I have repeatedly
Speaker 3: introduced in the Senate a constitutional amendment to mandate term limits,
Speaker 3: to limit senators, each senator to two terms, to limit
Speaker 3: each House member to three terms.
Speaker 4: You know, it's interesting. Term limits was something.
Speaker 3: I supported before I got to the Senate, but having
Speaker 3: seen this place firsthand, now I support it a thousand
Speaker 3: times more because this place.
Speaker 4: Is the swamp.
Speaker 3: It is corrupt, and the people who are here a
Speaker 3: long time are the worst. You get drawn in and
Speaker 3: corrupted by the swamp, and it's both parties. Look, the
Speaker 3: Democrats are bad, but for much of this spending that
Speaker 3: is bankrupting the country, we have a uniparty. We have
Speaker 3: Republican career politicians who jump in bed with the Democrats
Speaker 3: and eagerly spend trillions of dollars. And so term limits
Speaker 3: would be a major step to reducing that power and
Speaker 3: reducing that corruption. And it's an amazing thing. If you
Speaker 3: look at term limits nationally, over seventy percent of American
Speaker 3: support term limits. That's true among Republicans, among Democrats.
Speaker 4: And among independents.
Speaker 3: You see massive majorities supporting term limits. The one group
Speaker 3: that doesn't is career politicians. In Washington, in the Senate,
Speaker 3: I have zero Democrats who support my term limits amendment.
Speaker 4: One of the Democrats as opposed to it.
Speaker 3: And I've chaired I used to be chairman of the
Speaker 3: Constitution's sub committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee. I chaired a
Speaker 3: hearing on term limits, brought in witnesses to talk about
Speaker 3: term limits. And the reality is in the Senate, the
Speaker 3: young guys support my term limits amendments, and none of
Speaker 3: the long time career politicians do.
Speaker 4: And that's why neither.
Speaker 3: Chuck Schumer nor Mitch McConnell wants term limits to get
Speaker 3: a vote on the Senate floor.
Speaker 4: Because they oppose it that much.
Speaker 3: So I've been fighting, but I have not been able
Speaker 3: to get it on the floor because Schumer and McConnell
Speaker 3: control what gets on the floor.
Speaker 1: Let's get a question on this set over here.
Speaker 8: How do you My name is Chad i' mis sophomore
Speaker 8: in Houston, and I wanted to ask how Congress can
Speaker 8: get back some tenth moment rights to the Satan people
Speaker 8: after events like nine to eleven and COVID have taken
Speaker 8: it away and given it to the federal government.
Speaker 3: Look, that is a fantastic question if you look at
Speaker 3: the Bill of Rights and you asked about the tenth Amendment.
Speaker 3: When I was in college, I wrote my senior thesis
Speaker 3: on the ninth and tenth amendments to the Constitution.
Speaker 4: And I'll tell you.
Speaker 3: A little bit of the history of why they're written,
Speaker 3: and then I will get straight to your question. But
Speaker 3: originally the Constitution was written, there was no Bill of Rights,
Speaker 3: it was just the Constitution itself. And then there was
Speaker 3: a debate over whether to ratify the Constitution, and the
Speaker 3: two groups there were the federalists and the anti federalists,
Speaker 3: and the federalists were advocating, the Constitution's a good idea,
Speaker 3: we should ratify it, we should have it be the
Speaker 3: organic document forming our government. The anti federalists, we're arguing
Speaker 3: against it. And one of the big arguments the anti
Speaker 3: federalists had is they said, well, there's no bill of rights.
Speaker 3: This is a flawed document because there's no provision in
Speaker 3: it protecting our fundamental liberties. Now, the federalists came back
Speaker 3: and they said, no, no, no, we don't need a bill
Speaker 3: of rights. And the reason the federalists gave is they said,
Speaker 3: this is a government of enumerated powers. If you look
Speaker 3: at Article one, section eight of the Constitution, Article x
Speaker 3: one establishes the Congress the legislative function, an Article one,
Speaker 3: section eight specifies it enumerates eighteen specific powers that Congress has.
Speaker 3: And the argument the federalists said is, look, we don't
Speaker 3: need to say that the federal government cannot violate your
Speaker 3: free speech, cannot violate your religious liberty, cannot violate your
Speaker 3: right to keep in bear arms, because there's nothing in
Speaker 3: the enumerated powers that gives the federal government the power
Speaker 3: to violate those rights, and so we've already done that
Speaker 3: by limiting the federal government's authority initially. Now, the anti
Speaker 3: federalists came back and they had lots of arguments, one
Speaker 3: of which was, well, there's nothing to stop them from
Speaker 3: violating those rights within the enumerated power. So, for example,
Speaker 3: one of the enumerated powers is the power to create
Speaker 3: and maintain post offices. Under the original Constitution, without a
Speaker 3: Bell of Rights, a government could say, the Biden administration
Speaker 3: will say, we will only transport letters from Democrats all Republicans.
Speaker 3: We've decided we don't want Republicans speaking anymore, so we
Speaker 3: won't transfer there. We won't transport their letters. Now, if
Speaker 3: the government tried to do that today, that would obviously
Speaker 3: be an unconstitutional violation of free speech. Without a Bill
Speaker 3: of rights, it would be permissible. I think the anti
Speaker 3: federalist won that debate. So we now have a Bill
Speaker 3: of Rights. The first ten amendments to the Constitution are
Speaker 3: the Bill of Rights, and the first eight are protecting
Speaker 3: specific rights, and then Amendments nine to ten both say
Speaker 3: Amendment nine says the enumeration of certain rights in the
Speaker 3: Bill of Rights shall not be construed to deny or
Speaker 3: to disparage other rights.
Speaker 4: Retained by the people.
Speaker 3: The Tenth Amendment says the powers not given to the
Speaker 3: federal government are reserved to the states and to the people.
Speaker 4: Basically, the ninth and tenth Amendments.
Speaker 3: Restate that the Constitution is a constitution of enumerated powers.
Speaker 3: In other words, they say, even though we just listed
Speaker 3: these eight Bill of Rights, we agree that the federal
Speaker 3: government probably couldn't have done any of this anyway, but
Speaker 3: we want Belton suspenders.
Speaker 4: And so the question.
Speaker 3: I think the Tenth Amendment solves an enormous number of
Speaker 3: problems in our country. I think federalism having states decide
Speaker 3: and I would actually advise you to take a look
Speaker 3: at a center at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. It's
Speaker 3: called the Center for Tenth Amendment Studies. I started it.
Speaker 3: I was the first director, the first leader of the
Speaker 3: Center for Tenth Amendment Studies at TPPF, and it's continued
Speaker 3: and is ongoing. I agree that a vast we should
Speaker 3: put as much decision making, as much authority as possible
Speaker 3: at the state level, or even better at the local level,
Speaker 3: because it's more likely to meet the knee of the
Speaker 3: people that are being affected, and it's also more accountable.
Speaker 3: You the citizen are much more able to express your
Speaker 3: views and hold accountable local officials and state officials than
Speaker 3: some bureaucrat in a windowless office in Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: Let's get a couple more questions in here on this side.
Speaker 9: Go ahead, Hello, Senator Cruz. My name is Mary Melvied.
Speaker 9: I am eighteen and from Magnolia, Texas. It appears that
Speaker 9: Democrats have control of the elections illegally through mules and
Speaker 9: in counting ballots. How is our vote even going to matter?
Speaker 9: Is there a plate a plan in place for actually
Speaker 9: having our vote to count?
Speaker 3: Well, Mary, thank you for that question. It's a hugely
Speaker 3: important question. You were right that voter fraud is a
Speaker 3: real problem, and it is a persistent problem. It's a
Speaker 3: problem that has been around since since the dawn of time,
Speaker 3: since the very first elections. I'm convinced that when the
Speaker 3: caveman sat got together to vote on who was going
Speaker 3: to be Grand Poobah, somebody.
Speaker 4: Stuffed the ballot box.
Speaker 3: That's just human nature that we have crooks, and crooks
Speaker 3: try to steal things. So we need to fight against
Speaker 3: voter fraud. We need to fight to preserve voter integrity. Now,
Speaker 3: the good news is we're in Texas, and Texas the
Speaker 3: Texas legislature has passed legislation strong legislation designed to prevent
Speaker 3: voter fraud. It's not perfect, it still exists, but we
Speaker 3: have tools in place to prevent voter fraud. There are
Speaker 3: things like requiring photo ID, which we do in Texas,
Speaker 3: that reduces fraud. There are things like prohibiting ballot harvesting,
Speaker 3: prohibiting paid political operatives from handling someone else's ballot that
Speaker 3: reduces voter fraud significantly. Ballot harvesting invites voter fraud, things
Speaker 3: like limiting mail in ballots. In Texas, we do so
Speaker 3: only unlimited circumstances, typically seniors or people with significant disabilities,
Speaker 3: but for the vast majority of Texans. The way you
Speaker 3: vote as you go vote in person. We have a
Speaker 3: two week period of early voting, so it's actually pretty
Speaker 3: easy to vote, but you vote in person. In person
Speaker 3: voting reduces the chances of voter fraud. I think we
Speaker 3: need to be vigilant fighting against voter fraud. I've spent
Speaker 3: twenty plus years fighting against fraud.
Speaker 4: At the same time, if you look nationally.
Speaker 3: They're blue states, they're purple states that they're not going
Speaker 3: to pass legislation to protect election integrity because the Democrats
Speaker 3: have decided they support voter fraud. It helps them, and
Speaker 3: it's the way the world's changed. Ten years ago, there
Speaker 3: were Democrats who would work with you on something like
Speaker 3: photo ID. There are none today because they've decided voter
Speaker 3: fraud is good for them. In blue states and purple states,
Speaker 3: they're not going to change their laws to stop voter fraud.
Speaker 4: Here's the good news.
Speaker 3: Historically, voter fraud typically only matters at the margins.
Speaker 4: It matters in a close election.
Speaker 3: So the answer is, in those blue states and purple states,
Speaker 3: we got to win by a big enough margin. They
Speaker 3: can't steal the race from us. Now that's not fair,
Speaker 3: it's frustrating, But the alternative is give up on our country.
Speaker 3: And I got to tell you there are a lot
Speaker 3: of Democrats that a lot of people of the corporate
Speaker 3: media that want all of us to give up on
Speaker 3: our country. They want conservatives to say, well, voter fraud
Speaker 3: is still there, so I'm not.
Speaker 4: Going to vote to hell with it. And I'll tell
Speaker 4: you what.
Speaker 3: If we do that, that becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
Speaker 3: Then our country truly is lost. And I'll point as
Speaker 3: a moment of encouragement, look no further than the state
Speaker 3: of Virginia. Virginia went for Joe Biden by ten points.
Speaker 3: Virginia has been blue for the past decade. Biden won
Speaker 3: Virginia by ten points. One year later, in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 3: Glenn who's a good friend of mine, I campaign with
Speaker 3: Glenn Youngkin all over Virginia. Spent two days barnstorming the
Speaker 3: state of Virginia with Glenn. One year after Biden was elected,
Speaker 3: Glen Youngkin was elected as a Republican in Virginia. Now,
Speaker 3: Virginia had not changed a single voter integrity law. They
Speaker 3: had the same lousy election laws they had the year before.
Speaker 3: But a whole bunch of moms, moms who had voted
Speaker 3: for Joe Biden, got ticked off at what the schools
Speaker 3: were doing to our kids, and they flipped over and
Speaker 3: voted Republican. That gives us a roadmap to what we
Speaker 3: can and I think what we have to do in
Speaker 3: this next election.
Speaker 2: Senator, It's always a pleasure to see people in person.
Speaker 2: I love doing these vertic lives for that don't forget.
Speaker 2: We do this show three days a week Monday, Wednesday, Fridays.
Speaker 2: We have our best of recap on Saturdays. Makes you
Speaker 2: subscribe and those days in between down with my podcast.
Speaker 2: Have Ben Ferguson podcasts as well, if.
Speaker 1: You update on the biggest news.
Speaker 2: I want to give a big thank you to all
Speaker 2: of you that are here, Senator.
Speaker 1: I know it's a pleasure.
Speaker 2: I know you wish you're here, not being held hosted
Speaker 2: in DC, but give Center Cruz a big round applause.
Speaker 4: You guys are awesome.
Speaker 2: And hopefully next year we'll be back in person here.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys so much. God blessed and we'll see
Speaker 1: you again soon.
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