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Dick Durbin lays the smackdown on Ted Cruz for publicly lying about the Democrats’ bill

Dick Durbin lays the smackdown on Ted Cruz for publicly lying about the Democrats’ bill

On Saturday afternoon, the Senate continued its agonizing debate over the Democrats’ blockbuster COVID-19 relief bill, with Republicans and a certain pair of conservative Dems trying their hardest to cut every last dollar they possibly could from a piece of legislation that inherently demands a robust expenditure.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) made sure that the vicious racism of Donald Trump was alive and well in the Senate chamber today when he accused Democrats of sending stimulus checks to criminals and to “illegal aliens,” a hateful term that should never be said by anyone, much less in a legislative body.

“Moments ago, the Democrats in this chamber just voted to send $1400 stimulus checks to murderers, to rapists, and child molesters incarcerated in prison. This amendment, just like the one we just voted on that Senator Cassidy and I introduced, this amendment before us today provides that the stimulus checks should not go to illegal aliens in this country. The question for the American people to answer is should your money, should taxpayer money be sent $1400  to every illegal alien in America? This amendment provides that it should not…The Democrats may say their language provides for that, but we know that the IRS treats someone who is illegally in the United States for 31 days last year as a resident alien. This corrects that and ensures that illegal aliens are not eligible for taxpayer-funded stimulus checks.”

However, Senator Dick Durbin wasn’t having any of it and promptly shut down the mendacious little toad:

“Mr. President [of the Senate], the statement of the Senator from Texas is just plain false. FALSE! Let me be clear. Undocumented immigrants do not have Social Security numbers and they do not qualify for stimulus relief checks, PERIOD! And just in case you didn’t notice, they didn’t qualify in December when 92 of us voted for that measure and they don’t qualify under the American Rescue Plan. Nothing has changed! And for you to stand up there and say the opposite is just to rile people up over something that’s not true!”

This isn’t anything the Democrats should be proud of; undocumented immigrants are suffering just as much as the rest of us from the coronavirus pandemic but have access to even fewer resources and opportunities for relief; this obsession over the arbitrary distinction of “citizenship” is nothing more than a justification for racist cruelty on the right-wing and stinginess on the left.

But it is outrageous to see the ease with which Ted Cruz promotes outrageous and easily debunked lies about a COVID-19 relief bill; the entire GOP caucus is nothing but depraved sociopaths who would happily watch millions starve before lifting a finger to help them.

Colin Taylor
Opinion columnist and former editor-in-chief of Occupy Democrats. He graduated from Bennington College with a Bachelor's degree in history and political science. He now focuses on advancing the cause of social justice and equality in America.

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