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