Ted Cruz Report

[UncleBeer 244]

I don't agree with each and every one of these (signing statements, for example), but many are irrefutable and outrageous. Full report with footnotes here.

Governing by Executive Fiat:

1. Disregarded 1996 welfare reform law in granting broad work waivers for work

requirements of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

2. Implemented portions of the DREAM Act, which Congress rejected, by executive

action.

3. Ended some terror asylum restrictions, by allowing asylum for people who provided only

“insignificant” or “limited” material support of terrorists.

4. Allowed immigrants in the U.S. illegally, who are relatives of military troops and

veterans, to stay in the country and get legal status.

5. Extended federal marriage benefits by recognizing, under federal law, same-sex

marriages created in a state that allows same-sex marriage even if the couple is living in a

state that doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage.

6. Recognized same-sex marriage in Utah, even though the Supreme Court stayed the court

order recognizing same-sex marriage in Utah and Utah said it would not recognize same-

sex marriages performed before the stay.

7. Refused to prosecute violation of drug laws with certain mandatory minimums.

8. Issued signing statements, refusing to enforce parts of congressional-enacted statutes.

9. Illegally refused to act on Yucca Mountain’s application to become a nuclear waste

repository.

National Security:

1. Falsely portrayed the Benghazi terrorist attack as a spontaneous protest against an anti-

Muslim YouTube video, and then lied about the White House’s involvement.

2. Illegally revealed the existence of sealed indictments in the Benghazi investigation.

3. Failed to enforce the Magnitsky Act as required by law, by not adding Russian human

rights abusers to a list of people not permitted to travel to or do business in the U.S.

4. Killed four Americans overseas in counterterrorism operations without judicial process.

5. Continued to give Egypt aid after the military took over its government, even though

federal law prohibits aid to Egypt in the event of a coup.

Obamacare:

1. Granted a “hardship” exemption from the individual mandate for people whose health

plans were canceled because their plans weren’t Obamacare compliant.

2. Delayed the individual mandate for two years.

3. Allowed individuals to buy health insurance plans in 2014 that did not comply with

Obamacare. Extended this delay until 2016—past the mid-term elections.

4. Extended the deadline to enroll in Obamacare.

5. Illegally granted businesses a waiver from Obamacare’s employer mandate. Twice.

6. Illegally continued the Obamacare employer contribution for congressional staffs.

7. Illegally delayed the Obamacare caps on out-of-pocket healthcare payments.

8. Illegally delayed Obamacare verification of eligibility for healthcare subsidies.

9. Illegally required people to violate their faith via the Obamacare contraception mandate.

10. As of May 2011, over 50% of Obamacare waiver beneficiaries were union members

(who account for less than 12% of the American work force)

Economy:

1. Ordered Boeing to fire 1,000 employees in South Carolina and shut down a new factory

because it was non-union.

2. Implemented a moratorium on offshore drilling after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

without statutory authority, and continued to enact new versions after federal courts

repeatedly invalidated the moratorium.

3. Treated secured creditors worse than unsecured creditors in the Chrysler bankruptcy.

4. Terminated the pensions of 20,000 non-union Delphi employees in the GM bankruptcy.

5. Had SWAT teams raid a Gibson guitar factory and seize property, on the purported basis

that Gibson had broken India’s environmental laws—but no charges were filed.

6. Government agencies are engaging in “Operation Choke Point,” where the government

asks banks to “choke off” access to financial services for customers engaging in conduct

the Administration does not like—such as “ammunition sales.”

Executive Nominees & Personnel:

1. Made illegal “recess” appointments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the

National Labor Relations Board when Congress wasn’t in recess. Ignored the rulings of

three federal courts of appeals that held those nominations unconstitutional.

2. Appointed czars to oversee federal policy specifically because czars do not require Senate

confirmation, earning criticism from stalwart Democrats such as West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd

and Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold.

3. As of January 2012, 36 of the President’s executive office staff owed $833,970 in back

taxes.

4. As of 2011, 311,566 federal employees or retirees owed $3.5 billion in taxes.

Free Speech & Privacy:

1. Illegally targeted conservative groups for heightened IRS scrutiny.

2. Circumvented the Freedom of Information Act, by requiring White House Counsel

review of all documents to be released under the Freedom of Information Act that the

Administration believed pertained to “White House equities”—and then delayed in

producing many of these documents by FOIA’s statutory deadline, or didn’t produce

them at all.

3. Got secret permission from the FISA Court to reverse restrictions on the National

Security Agency’s use of intercepted phone calls and emails, permitting the NSA to

search American’s communications in its databases.

4. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking to monitor about 80% of U.S.

credit card transactions.

5. Targeted Fox News reporter James Rosen by falsely labeling him a possible “co-

conspirator” in a criminal investigation of a new leak.

6. Secretly obtained phone records from staff at the Associated Press.

7. Had meetings with lobbyists in coffee shops near White House to avoid disclosure

requirements.

Other Lawless Acts:

1. Aided drug cartels instead of enforcing immigration laws—as found by a federal judge.

Border Patrol agents, multiple times, knowingly helped smuggle illegal immigrant

children into the U.S.; “the DHS is encouraging parents to seriously jeopardize the safety

of their children.”

2. Illegally sold thousands of guns to criminals, in the operation known as Fast and

Furious, and then refused to comply with congressional subpoenas about the

operation.

3. Dismissed charges filed by Bush Administration against New Black Panther Party

members who were videotaped intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling station

during the 2008 election.

4. Argued for expansive federal powers in the Supreme Court, which has rejected the

Administration’s arguments unanimously 9 times since January 2012.

5. Sued Louisiana to stop school vouchers and keep low-income minorities trapped in

failing schools.

6. Threatened to arrest military priests for practicing their faith during the partial

government shutdown.

7. Muzzled the speech of military chaplains.

8. Sued fire departments saying their multiple-choice, open-book written employment tests

were racially discriminatory.

9. Gave 23,994 tax refunds worth more than $46 million to aliens here illegally using the

same address in Atlanta, GA.

Other Abuses of Power:

1. Released a mentally ill Guantanamo detainee, who had been a high-risk al Qaeda

fighter in jihad combat since the 1980s.

2. Backed release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi.

3. President Obama told NASA administrator to “find a way to reach out to the Muslim

world.”

4. Claimed the Fort Hood shooting was “workplace violence” rather than terrorism.

5. Signed a stimulus bill that spent money on bonuses for AIG executives, and then acted

shocked and outraged at the bonuses.

6. Gave $535 million to Solyndra, which went bankrupt; Solyndra shareholders and officials

made substantial donations to Obama’s campaign.

7. Reneged on a campaign promise to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term in

office.

8. Increased the national debt more in one term than President Bush did in two terms.

9. Extended mortgage assistance to people who bought multiple homes during the housing

bubble.

10. Proposed rules that would have decimated family farms, by prohibiting children under 18

from doing many forms of farm work.

11. Former “safe schools czar” has written about his past drug abuse and advocated

promoting homosexuality in schools.

12. Nominated Timothy Geithner—who had significant tax issues —to head the Treasury

Department, which enforces tax laws.

13. Reneged on campaign promise to broadcast healthcare reform negotiations on C-SPAN.

14. Reneged on a campaign promise to wait five days before signing any non-emergency bill

(at least 10 times during first 3 months in office).

15. Unilaterally, increased the minimum wage for federal contract workers from $7.25 to

$10.10, via executive order.

16. Cancelled all White House tours after sequestration—purportedly saving $18,000 per

week—even though President Obama had spent more than $1 million in tax money to

golf with Tiger Woods one weekend a few weeks before.

17. Adopted pro-union “ambush election” rules.

18. Pressured Ford to pull an anti-auto-bailout TV ad.

19. Actively, aided in George Zimmerman protests.

20. Tried to seize a privately owned motel when guests used illegal drugs at the motel.

21. Shut down the Amber Alert website, while keeping up Let’s Move website, during the

partial government shutdown.

22. Gave supervised release to a convicted criminal (an alien here illegally) who later killed a

nun in a DUI.

23. Shut down an Amish farm for selling fresh unpasteurized milk across state lines.

24. Spent $7 million per household in “stimulus funds” to connect a few Montana households

to the Internet.

25. Spent $205,075 in “stimulus” funds to relocate a shrub that sells for $16.

26. Fired an inspector general after investigating an $850,000 AmeriCorps grant received by

a nonprofit run by former NBA star and Obama supporter Kevin Johnson (now mayor of

Sacramento).

Edited May 8, 2014 by UncleBeer

[Penguin_ie 6,000]

**** Title of thread edited to reflect title of report quoted ****