Press Releases ICYMI: Sen. Cruz on Texas Radio

On Thursday, I joined local Texas radio hosts to discuss tax reform, and my efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare and lower health care premiums. I also praised the reports that President Trump was expected to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Pact later that day.

Below are excerpts of my comments to WBAP's Chris Salcedo and AM 1070's Sam Malone:

On the Paris Climate Pact:

I think if we pull out of the agreement it will be a very, very good thing for jobs in American and especially for the state of Texas.

There was a recent study by the National Economic Research Association that said the Paris agreement could obliterate three trillion dollars in GDP and 6.5 million industrial sector jobs which works out to $7,000 in per capita household income gone from the American economy by 2040 - and for Texas it would be particularly devastating. And it wouldn't do any good for the environment. The estimates are that the impacts on the environment would be negligible, especially since almost all of the burden is on America. Russia gets a pass, China gets a pass, and India gets a pass. President Trump is defending the interest of our nation and defending jobs, which is what he was elected to do.

On Obamacare Repeal and Replace:

I think we have got to repeal Obamacare. In my view, failure is not an option. I believe we can accomplish the task. Right now I am spending literally every waking moment trying to bring together Republicans, trying to unite the Republican conference so that we can focus on two things: number one, honoring our promise to repeal Obamacare, but number two, critically lowering health insurance premiums. The biggest reason so many millions of Americans are unhappy with Obamacare, is it's caused premiums to skyrocket. The average families' premiums have increased over $5,000 a year. That's what I hear all across the state of Texas - is Texans telling me ‘I can't afford health insurance anymore.' If we lower premiums so that individual consumers have more choices, more options, more competition, and quality health care is more affordable, that's going to help struggling families in the state of Texas - and I think that's what we need to do.

On Tax Reform:

On tax reform the conversations are in much earlier stages - there's still a lot of disagreement within the House and in the Senate - but I think we can get to ‘yes.' And the advice I've given the President Trump on tax reform has been very simple - it's been two words: bold and simple. I think there is power to bold simplicity in tax reform. What I would ideally like to see is a simple flat tax where every American can fill out our taxes on a postcard and we can abolish the IRS. That would have a tremendous impact on our economy.

Audio from the radio interviews may be found below: