Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: As we now entered days one e yes of this
Speaker 2: government shutdown, with each side still playing the blame game.
Speaker 2: This morning, though, Kevin Hasset, director of the National Economic Council,
Speaker 2: said the White House is going to have to look
Speaker 2: very closely at stronger measures, as he put it, if
Speaker 2: the government shutdown does not end this week. Earlier today,
Speaker 2: we got an inside perspective from Capitol Hill when we
Speaker 2: sat down with Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, of course,
Speaker 2: chairs the Senate Commerce Committee. Talked about the state of
Speaker 2: the shutdown, the no King's rallies over the weekend, and more.
Speaker 2: Started by asking him if trouble at the nation's airports
Speaker 2: will be the factor that ends this shutdown.
Speaker 3: This shutdown needs to end, and it needs to end now.
Speaker 1: We're going to vote today, I think the eleventh or
Speaker 1: twelfth time to reopen the government. The Republicans are all aligned.
Speaker 1: I'm going to vote to reopen the government. What we've
Speaker 1: seen over and over again is the Democrats keep voting
Speaker 1: to keep the shutdown going.
Speaker 3: And it's irresponsible.
Speaker 1: And you know, I was at Houston's Hobby Airport a
Speaker 1: couple of days ago, I did a press conference there
Speaker 1: where I pointed out they're fifty thousand TSA agents right
Speaker 1: now who are working with no pay. They didn't get
Speaker 1: a full paycheck in the last pay period. They're fourteen
Speaker 1: thousand air traffic controllers who expected to come into work
Speaker 1: but they didn't get a full paycheck.
Speaker 3: And this needs to end.
Speaker 1: It's not right, it's not fair, and I think Democrats
Speaker 1: are holding not only the US government hostage, but holding
Speaker 1: the American people hostage. And we're already seeing delays climbing,
Speaker 1: and I got to say, every day this goes on,
Speaker 1: I think we could expect more and more of that.
Speaker 1: At some point the Democrats need to take their Trump
Speaker 1: derangement syndrome and set it aside and let the government open.
Speaker 4: Senator, I do have to say that you just talked
Speaker 4: about Americans who are waiting on this. Some Americans likely
Speaker 4: aren't concerned whether it's the Democrats or the Republicans who
Speaker 4: are responsible so for those or those not getting paychecks.
Speaker 4: You know, what do you say to them after this
Speaker 4: has gone on for so long?
Speaker 1: Well, look, one of the challenges in terms of predicting
Speaker 1: when this is going to end before you and I
Speaker 1: sat down.
Speaker 3: You asked, all right, when's this going to be over?
Speaker 1: And I said, I don't know, because in many ways,
Speaker 1: the two parties are living in parallel worlds. And I
Speaker 1: think for the Democrats they're in an echo chamber where
Speaker 1: they're listening to their left wing radicals.
Speaker 3: Who are happy. Look, last week.
Speaker 1: It was conventional wisdom in the Senate that there was
Speaker 1: no chance the government would reopen last week. Why because
Speaker 1: the so called no King's rallies were going to happen
Speaker 1: this weekend, and the Democrats were terrified of reopening the
Speaker 1: government before they saw the radicals. And the phrase I
Speaker 1: kept hearing was that Chuck Schumer was afraid his head
Speaker 1: would be on a pike metaphorically not advocating violence, but
Speaker 1: he was afraid of his own left wing radicals. Right now, listen,
Speaker 1: the way this is going to end is it's going
Speaker 1: to take seven or eight Democrats saying all right, this
Speaker 1: stunt's gone on long enough, let's end it. And the
Speaker 1: reason the government has shut down it's a very simple
Speaker 1: question of math. In order to fund the government under
Speaker 1: the Senate.
Speaker 3: Rules, you need sixty votes in the Senate.
Speaker 1: There are only fifty three Republicans, which means we need
Speaker 1: at least seven Democrats. The reason the government is shut
Speaker 1: down right now is the Democrats are voting party line
Speaker 1: all but three Democrats. Three Democrats are voting with us
Speaker 1: to reopen the government. Everyone else is voting now. Until
Speaker 1: the Democrats give us seven or eight votes, the government
Speaker 1: will stay shut down. And I don't know if that's
Speaker 1: a day. I don't know if that's a week. I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's a month. But at some point
Speaker 1: this stunt needs to end.
Speaker 2: You wonder if we get as far as Thanksgiving. That
Speaker 2: cr was dated for the twenty first, but that's the
Speaker 2: big travel weekd ed.
Speaker 3: In mind when I asked you that you mentioned no kings.
Speaker 2: Pretty incredible optics from over the weekend and the number
Speaker 2: of cities involved were told that it was some seven
Speaker 2: million people. And I know that there was a lot
Speaker 2: of talk and concern ahead of these that there might
Speaker 2: be rioting, that violence could break out, where you encouraged
Speaker 2: to see them be peaceful.
Speaker 1: Listen, I was glad that there were not significant acts
Speaker 1: of violence. That's certainly a positive development. I've seen other rallies,
Speaker 1: the Black Lives Matter and Antifa rallies that turned into
Speaker 1: violent riots that resulted in a lot of people being injured,
Speaker 1: stores looted, police cars, firebomb during COVID during COVID, so
Speaker 1: I was grateful that these did not play out that way.
Speaker 1: I got to tell you the total number there, I'm
Speaker 1: a little skeptical about. I think those estimates are coming
Speaker 1: from the organizers and we've at least seen you know,
Speaker 1: up in Boston, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren tweeted out this incredible
Speaker 1: video of a ton of people gathered and said, look
Speaker 1: at all the.
Speaker 3: People that came out for no Kings.
Speaker 1: The only problem is the video, she said out was
Speaker 1: from twenty seventeen, not from now. So I'm skeptical as
Speaker 1: to the numbers. I'll tell you though, look what I
Speaker 1: am have been laying out this protest was not organic. Actually,
Speaker 1: my podcast today, I do do a podcast every week,
Speaker 1: Verdict with Ted Cruz. Today's podcast is actually bringing the
Speaker 1: receipts that these protests they were not organic. One of
Speaker 1: the things that was striking is they were almost all
Speaker 1: old white people. They're basically boomers in mass which was
Speaker 1: fairly amazing.
Speaker 3: But this is also bought and paid for.
Speaker 1: This is AstroTurf, and in particular George Soros. I lay
Speaker 1: out on the podcast how George Soros's foundation has given
Speaker 1: millions to Indivisible, one of the lead groups organizing these protests, and.
Speaker 3: This is bought and paid for in a way.
Speaker 1: Look, these protests are really expressing the Democrat rage. We
Speaker 1: hate Donald Trump, and sadly that's who today's Democrat party
Speaker 1: is in Congress.
Speaker 4: So, Senator, if you're saying they're bought and paid for,
Speaker 4: I mean, don't do you think this is something though
Speaker 4: Republicans need to take seriously. If you remember the beginning
Speaker 4: of the Tea Party and that wasn't necessarily taken all that.
Speaker 1: Seriously, So how should you approach these Look, unquestionably we
Speaker 1: should take political peril seriously. Number One, I think it's
Speaker 1: bad for America when one of our two major political
Speaker 1: parties has gotten so extreme and radical the way the
Speaker 1: Democrats are. I mean, they're a party that is unified
Speaker 1: behind hate for Donald Trump, but number two politically in
Speaker 1: terms of the midterms in twenty twenty six, it's dangerous.
Speaker 1: And I'm telling my colleagues, Look, if the election in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six depends on results, I think we have
Speaker 1: a lot to campaign on. Whether it is securing the
Speaker 1: border and seeing illegal border crossings drop ninety nine percent,
Speaker 1: whether it is ending wars and President Trump negotiating the
Speaker 1: deal to release the hostages that have Moss had taken,
Speaker 1: or whether it is the economy and the record amount
Speaker 1: of money being invested new factories and new jobs.
Speaker 3: In the United States.
Speaker 1: I think substantively, Republicans have a lot.
Speaker 3: To campaign on.
Speaker 1: That being said, and you're exactly right, Julie, there is
Speaker 1: a lot of energy. There is a lot of anger
Speaker 1: on the left, and elections can be dangerous when one
Speaker 1: side is mobilized.
Speaker 3: Is anger, I'll tell you.
Speaker 1: In terms of fundraising, the Democrats are raising a lot
Speaker 1: more money because their radicals hate Trump so much and
Speaker 1: look angry. Energized voters show up to vote, and I
Speaker 1: do worry about just just ordinary voters who are happy
Speaker 1: or complacent, who say, gosh, Trump one things are good.
Speaker 1: I don't need to show up and vote. There's no
Speaker 1: doubt if one side shows up and the other doesn't,
Speaker 1: that that leads to a bad election.
Speaker 2: Well, I know that you're very concerned about political rhetoric
Speaker 2: in this country and political violence. The comments that you
Speaker 2: made following the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel, made some pretty
Speaker 2: heavy rounds because you were seen as a bit of
Speaker 2: a contrarian in that case. And you've got a piece
Speaker 2: of legislation, a job owning bill that's up before the
Speaker 2: Senate right now. Is that you look at the different
Speaker 2: ends of the political spectrum and they come around eventually.
Speaker 2: Is that a different version of a No King's Bill.
Speaker 3: No, Look, I think it's very different. Let's be real clear.
Speaker 3: I believe in free speech.
Speaker 2: It was Donald Trump, though, who led so Jimmy Kimmel
Speaker 2: coming off the air, and you were the one who
Speaker 2: called them up.
Speaker 1: Well, to be fair, it wasn't Donald Trump. It was
Speaker 1: Brendan Carr, the chairman of the US.
Speaker 2: I realized there were ratings issues and everything else, But
Speaker 2: do you see the connection I'm trying to make.
Speaker 3: Yeah, listen, listen.
Speaker 1: I disagreed with Brendan Carr's comments, and I actually did
Speaker 1: an entire podcast laying out that government should not be
Speaker 1: threatening to strip the license away from a media outlet
Speaker 1: to remove someone they dislike. Now, to be clear, it
Speaker 1: wasn't Brendan Carr who invented this process or in the
Speaker 1: Biden administration, the Biden FCC was talking about stripping away
Speaker 1: Fox News's license, and by the way, I led the
Speaker 1: fight against that. I'm the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee,
Speaker 1: which has jurisdiction over the SCC, and.
Speaker 3: I led the fight to say no, just because you.
Speaker 1: Don't like what Fox News is saying, the federal government
Speaker 1: doesn't get to strip their license away. And so when
Speaker 1: this FCC mentioned that as a possibility, I thought it
Speaker 1: was important to say, Look, government should not be in
Speaker 1: the business of censoring whether I agree with a speaker
Speaker 1: or not. And so I'm introducing legislation jawboning legislation that
Speaker 1: would number one, make it illegal for the federal government
Speaker 1: to do what the Biden administration did widely, which is
Speaker 1: pressure private organizations, pressure big tech to engage in censorship.
Speaker 1: But it also will create a right of action and
Speaker 1: ability to sue if the government pressures. If the government
Speaker 1: jawbones big tech or a media organization to censor someone,
Speaker 1: it creates damages or a right to seek damages for
Speaker 1: someone who's been censored.
Speaker 3: Because I think we should protect.
Speaker 1: Free speech whether we agree with or disagree with the speaker.
Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting we talk about licenses too. And of
Speaker 2: course that's a pretty small slice of the media landscape,
Speaker 2: the political media landscape with cable news and everything else
Speaker 2: going on right now. But I have to ask you
Speaker 2: about NASA. We're spending a lot of time on your
Speaker 2: Commerce Committee here, and Bloomberg is reporting, and we heard
Speaker 2: from Sean Duffy earlier today that the Artemist contract may
Speaker 2: be going up forbid, that there might be other companies
Speaker 2: other than SpaceX involved. Here is the answer that's needed
Speaker 2: to finally get America back to the moon.
Speaker 1: Well, listen, I don't know what NASA's going to do.
Speaker 1: I will say I think Sean Duffy is doing a
Speaker 1: fantastic job as the acting administrator.
Speaker 3: He's really dived into the role. And NASA.
Speaker 1: Look, NASA is something that is near and dear to
Speaker 1: my heart. For the last thirteen years, almost every single
Speaker 1: major piece of space related legislation that's passed into law,
Speaker 1: I've either authored or co authored in and being a
Speaker 1: lifelong Houstonian, Johnson's Space Center is right there. It matters
Speaker 1: enormously to Houston, it matters to Texas, and it matters
Speaker 1: to the whole country. One of the most important parts
Speaker 1: of the one Big, Beautiful bill that Donald Trump signed
Speaker 1: a law on the fourth of July is a provision
Speaker 1: that I wrote that funds ten billion dollars for NASA
Speaker 1: to go back to the Moon, and it funds Artemis,
Speaker 1: it funds going back to the Moon.
Speaker 3: And we're in a race.
Speaker 1: Look that there's a unifying theme behind all of the
Speaker 1: legislation that I'm fighting for in the Commerce Committee, and
Speaker 1: that is producing jobs and beating China.
Speaker 3: And we need to beat China going to the moon.
Speaker 1: China's stated they intend to go to the moon by
Speaker 1: twenty thirty and we cannot lose the race to the moon.
Speaker 1: In my view, if we wake up in a few
Speaker 1: years and see China on the moon, see China establishing
Speaker 1: a base on the Moon, I think it would be
Speaker 1: a blow to America. That would make sput Nick seem mild.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to do everything humanly possible to prevent
Speaker 1: that from happening. And I will say Sean Duffy at
Speaker 1: dinner with Sean last week, I think he really is
Speaker 1: diving in and is committed we will go to the
Speaker 1: moon and we will beat China.
Speaker 3: That is very good for America.
Speaker 4: And that was Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas speaking
Speaker 4: with US earlier this afternoon,