Sen. Ted Cruz pulling no punches on amnesty, Sandy pork; 'I have deep concerns' over immigration proposal

Brett T. | 8:50 PM on January 28, 2013

As Twitchy reported, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz wasted no time putting his new @SenTedCruz Twitter account to work, coming out of the gate to accuse President Obama of scaring people with talk of a default on the nation’s debt. Don’t think that Cruz is reserving the tough talk for the president only; tonight’s tweets take on his Senate colleagues.

Appreciate efforts to fix broken immigration system. However, I have deep concerns w/ proposed path to citizenship: http://t.co/dnAkTyBj

— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) January 28, 2013

I appreciate the good work that senators in both parties have put into trying to fix our broken immigration system. There are some good elements in this proposal, especially increasing the resources and manpower to secure our border and also improving and streamlining legal immigration. However, I have deep concerns with the proposed path to citizenship. To allow those who came here illegally to be placed on such a path is both inconsistent with rule of law and profoundly unfair to the millions of legal immigrants who waited years, if not decades, to come to America legally.

Hold the line, @SenTedCruz. Thank you. #shamnesty

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) January 28, 2013

Just last weekend, Cruz had reporters clutching their pearls after he appeared on “Meet the Press” and accused Obama of exploiting the Sandy Hook massacre within minutes to push for stronger gun control. Will the blowback from that comment have a chilling effect on the freshman senator? Don’t count on it — Cruz defended his vote tonight against the pork-laden Sandy relief package by accusing senators of “exploiting victims of natural disasters.”

Hurricane Sandy inflicted devastating damage on the East Coast, and Congress appropriately responded with hurricane relief. Unfortunately, cynical politicians in Washington could not resist loading up this relief bill with billions in new spending utterly unrelated to Sandy.

Emergency relief for the families who are suffering from this natural disaster should not be used as a Christmas tree for billions in unrelated spending, including projects such as Smithsonian repairs, upgrades to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration airplanes, and more funding for Head Start.

Two thirds of this spending is not remotely “emergency”; the Congressional Budget Office estimates that only 30% of the authorized funds would be spent in the next 20 months, and over a billion dollars will be spent as late as 2021.

This bill is symptomatic of a larger problem in Washington – an addiction to spending money we do not have. The United States Senate should not be in the business of exploiting victims of natural disasters to fund pork projects that further expand our debt.

There’s no way Cruz is going to get a big bear hug from Gov. Chris Christie if he keeps talking like that.