Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) unloaded on Senate Democrats on Monday for continuing to play partisan games in trying to reach an agreement for a massive stimulus bill to provide relief to American families and the economy.
It had looked like the two sides were going to come to an agreement on Sunday to move the proposed $1.8 trillion stimulus bill along in the process until Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ruined talks.
“It was one party — the Democratic Party saying to this chamber and the American people, ‘Hell no. We won’t even take this up and discuss it,’” Cruz said on the Senate floor. “At a time of crisis, at a time when people are dying, that’s wrong. That’s shameful.”
He added, “When we awakened this morning following the Democrats’ obstruction, worldwide, there were 372,563 reported cases of the coronavirus. In the hours since then, just today, there have been an additional 23,352 cases reported today. While the Democrats are blocking the bill 23,000 new cases today.”
“In the United States, when we started this morning, there were 35,224 cases this morning. Right now, as of the latest numbers, there are 41,708 cases in the United States today,” Cruz continued. “That means we’ve had an additional 6,484 four cases today, while the Democrats are blockading.”
Cruz noted that Senate Democrats were not even in the chamber as he talked because they had all left.
“They’re not showing up for work,” Cruz said. “They’re not doing their job.”
“In the United States, as of this morning, there were 471 deaths reported due to coronavirus. As of right now it’s 573,” Cruz continued. “That means today 102 Americans died while the Democrats were blocking consideration of this bill.”
WATCH:
Just today, while Democrats obstructed efforts to deliver more relief to the American people,
There were at least 6,484 new cases in the US.
There were at least 102 deaths in the US.
There was another death in TX.Our nation does not have time for Dems’ petty partisan games. pic.twitter.com/8RWLfErK5H
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) March 24, 2020
PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT:
The New York Times headline moments afterwards said, ‘Democrats block $1.7 trillion stimulus bill.’ Of course that headline had the fault of being accurate and so within minutes the New York Times changed it to ‘Democrats block $1.7 trillion stimulus bill, citing worker concerns.’ That was headline number two. But then apparently the partisan leanings in 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 a partisan division. It was one party – the Democratic Party saying to this chamber and the American people, ‘Hell no. We won’t even take this up and discuss it.’ At a time of crisis, at a time when people are dying, that’s wrong. That’s shameful.
When we awakened this morning following the Democrats’ obstruction, worldwide, there were 372,563 reported cases of the coronavirus. In the hours since then, just today, there have been an additional 23,352 cases reported today. While the Democrats are blocking the bill 23,000 new cases today.
In the United States, when we started this morning, there were 35,224 cases this morning. Right now, as of the latest numbers, there are 41,708 cases in the United States today. That means we’ve had an additional 6,484 four cases today, while the Democrats are blockading.
And by the way where are the Democrats? C-Span doesn’t show this whole chamber often, but it’d 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.
In Texas this morning, there had been 668 cases. As of right now, there are 722 — 54 more cases today while the Democrats are blocking consideration of this bill.
How about deaths? As we look at this crisis, there are people right now gasping for breath. You and I, we have friends who have been diagnosed with this disease. We’ve read stories, we’ve talked to people who have struggled under it.
I heard from one individual, who is hospitalized right now, that breathing felt like a belt strapped across his chest. That he could barely breathe.
As of [now], worldwide, there have been 16,381 deaths. This morning it was only 15,308. 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 had been eight deaths. Now there are nine. One Texan died while half this chamber refused to show up and do their job.
Now this morning when we voted again, we saw the first signs of cracks as one Democrat, Senator from Alabama, who had voted ‘no’ yesterday decided this morning, ‘well, maybe we should take up the bill.’ One. One Democrat. Where are the rest? There are a lot of Democrats who like to hold themselves out as moderate Democrats. Where are they?
Right now what the Democratic leadership is doing is they’re playing games. They’re playing games in a way that is irresponsible.