Discusses Republicans’ targeted COVID-19 relief, his RECOVERY Act on CNBC’s Squawk Box & Dallas’ Mark Davis Show
WASHINGTON. D.C. – After introducing the RECOVERY Act, comprehensive legislation to safely re-open the economy and get Americans back to work and school, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) appeared on CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ and Dallas’ ‘Mark Davis Show’ to discuss his bill and Senate Republicans’ effort to pass targeted COVID-19 relief. Excerpts of the interviews are below.
On the next phase of COVID-19 relief and Democrats’ political posturing, Sen. Cruz said:
“I believe Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer […] don’t want a deal. They don’t want to pass anything. […] The reason I think they’ve done that is that Pelosi and Schumer have calculated that if they maximize economic pain, if they have the most Americans home and broke and unemployed and pissed off, that benefits their party and helps Joe Biden. I think that’s a very cynical approach. I’ll tell you what we ought to be doing. We ought to be focusing on recovery, we ought to be focusing on helping millions of the small businesses that have shut down, helping them re-open, helping people get back to work. Millions of Americans are hurting right now but unfortunately there a lot of Washington Democrats that are playing games instead of getting the economy moving again.” (Sen. Cruz, ‘Squawk Box,’ CNBC, 9/9/2020)
On the inclusion of his proposals to support education in Republican’s targeted relief, Sen. Cruz said:
“The most important piece that Republican leadership’s plan includes is my legislation on school choice. The five billion dollar a year tax credit is in the targeted relief plan that we’re going to vote on this week. I think it is likely that we will get the votes of every Republican or virtually every Republican. We’ll see. I think we’ll get a majority.” (Sen. Cruz, ‘Mark Davis Show,’ The Answer, 9/9/2020)
“[For] millions of kids, their education is on hold. They are not learning the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic. It’s a tragedy for those kids. Every day and every week they’re left behind. It’s a tragedy for those families whose parents aren’t able to resume work again. So I am a passionate, passionate advocate for school choice. The targeted relief bill that we’re going to vote on this week includes my legislation to create a federal tax credit [of] $5 billion a year, which even in Washington speak is a lot of money, directly focused on expanding choices for parents who are struggling. It’s a dollar for dollar tax credit, to individuals, to corporations that make contributions to scholarship granting organizations, giving scholarships for K-12. By the way, that’s for parents to send their kids to public school, private school, parochial school, their choice. They can send them anywhere. That money can go to public schools if parents choose. But what it gives is the parents the power to choose. Unfortunately I think we’re going to see the Democrats filibuster it.” (Sen. Cruz, ‘Squawk Box,’ CNBC, 9/9/2020)
On the RECOVERY Act, Sen. Cruz said:
“I believe our number one priority in terms of the economy has got to be getting people back to work. Texans want to get back to work. […] My central focus and what I believe all of Congress should be focused on is how do we re-start this economy? How do we get people back to work? Do it safely, do it in a way that follows sound science and minimizes the risk of transmitting the virus, but let people provide for their families. So I introduced legislation today in the Senate called the RECOVERY Act, and it is entirely focused on re-starting the economy. It’s focused on reducing taxes, reducing regulations on the millions of small businesses that are right now struggling to open their doors and are hanging on the line between surviving and going under. We need them to survive and prosper and thrive and bring their employees back.” (Sen. Cruz, ‘Mark Davis Show,’ The Answer, 9/9/2020)
“The RECOVERY Act I introduce today, it suspends the payroll tax for 2020. What that means is for every employee in America you get an immediate raise. Your salary goes up so that you can go home and provide better for your family. It also means for the employer the cost of hiring employees goes down. That’s a strong pro-growth incentive to hire employees back. Not only that, part of the RECOVERY Act says that the next $10,000 that you earn in 2020 is entirely tax-free. It’s free of income tax. Why do you do that? Because as you know, and economics what matters, is the marginal incentives of the next dollar you’re earning. We’ve seen 51 million Americans lose their jobs in the last six months. We should have a focus bipartisan urgency on getting those folks back to work.” (Sen. Cruz, ‘Squawk Box,’ CNBC, 9/9/2020)
On the stakes of 2020, Sen. Cruz said:
“If in the next two months we see people going back to work, we see people with a greater sense of hope and optimism for the future, we could have a phenomenal election. The president could be reelected with a bigger margin than last time. We could grow our majority in the Senate. We could retake the House and take the gavel out of Nancy Pelosi’s hands. On the other hand, if there’s another wave of COVID, if the numbers spike, if there are additional shutdowns, if millions of people are losing their jobs and they’re depressed and demoralized, we could see a bloodbath, Mark. We could see Watergate level Democratic landslides. We could see Biden, Pelosi and Schumer winning. If that happens, the three of them will do more damage in the next two years than Obama did in eight. […] Republicans win if this is an election based on ideas. If it’s an election on the contrast between socialism and free enterprise. If it’s an election on the contrast between rule of law and the Constitution or riots and anarchy and violence in the streets, we win and we win handily. The Democrats don’t want it to be a contest of ideas. They want it to be a battle of personalities. […] I think if we focus on ideas, free enterprise and the Constitution work and their ideas don’t, that’s how we win.” (Sen. Cruz, ‘Mark Davis Show,’ The Answer, 9/9/2020)
WATCH: Cruz on CNBC: RECOVERY Act Is How We Re-Open Our Economy, Get Americans Safely Back To Work & School
LISTEN: Cruz on the Mark Davis Show: Our Number One Priority Has Got To Be Getting People Back To Work
READ: Sen. Cruz on CNBC: Here’s How We Can Get the Economy Back up and Running