Sen. Ted Cruz: Democrats’ Partisan COVID Bill Abandons Struggling Families

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today issued the following statement after voting against the Democrats' $1.9 trillion COVID bill:

'Instead of working in a bipartisan manner to open our schools, bring back small businesses, and help struggling Americans get back on their feet, Democrats chose to pander to their radical liberal base with partisan handouts. This bill is stuffed with pork, with only nine percent of the almost $2 trillion going toward actual and urgent COVID relief.

'The education money in this bill won't be spent until years into the future, and much of it is completely unrelated to meeting students' urgent needs today. I proposed an amendment to fix this and get our children back into their classrooms by requiring states receiving extra relief funds to fully reopen schools for 5-day-a-week, in-person instruction. If schools declined to open, the funding would have instead gone to families as a grant of up to $10,000 per student. Sadly, Democrats blocked this commonsense plan.

'This bill also shockingly provides COVID relief checks to illegal aliens and criminals behind bars. I proposed two amendments to close these loopholes. Democrats voted in lockstep to ensure illegal aliens and prison inmates would still qualify for these rebates.

'Just this week, our national debt hit an astounding $28 trillion. Instead of sticking future generations with this enormous tab, Congress should ensure already approved dollars are used to help address the pandemic. I will continue to proudly represent 29 million Texans and fight to open our schools, get our economy booming again, and help struggling families recover.'

Read the full text of Sen. Cruz's amendments here and here.

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