WATCH: Sen. Ted Cruz (R) discusses his economic, immigration, energy policies

Senator Cruz welcome back to East Texas we're short on time so I want to get right to it let's talk about the Border we were talking about that a bit previously a bipartisan agreement by Senators would have provided over $20 billion to try and curb illegal immigration my understanding you voted against it I wanted to ask you what parts would you have liked to have seen done differently well listen that particular bill was a terrible bill it it was a partisan bill that Chuck Schumer was responsible for and and would have made the problem worse so that bill codified put into law Joe Biden and kamla Harris is Catch and Release policies it put into law that illegal immigrants would be given work permits when they got here it also put into law that illegal immigrants would be given taxpayer funded lawyers it gave billions of dollars to Sanctuary cities and to the non-governmental organizations that are helping the human traffickers and here was the worst part about it it normalized 5,000 illegal immigrants a day that's 1.8 million a year and it normalized that every year in perpetuity it was a terrible Bill said after 5,000 immigrants cross the border Biden could declare the president could declare a National Emergency except he can do that now he doesn't need the bill to do that now so so understand the basic facts when Joe Biden and kamla Harris came into office they inherited the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years I worked hand inand with President Trump Trump to secure the border and we achieved incredible success and Joe Biden and kamla Harris and Colin alred together they deliberately broke the Border they implemented the open border and by the way Colin aled has voted for kamla Harris's open borders over and over and over again and I'll tell you why we had this border crisis it was three decisions they made the very first week in office the first week in office they immediately halted construction of the border wall number one number two two they reinstated the disastrous policy of Catch and Release and number three they pulled out of the incredibly successful remain and Mexico policy those three decisions caused the crisis and understand what happened we went from the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years immediately to the highest rate ever recorded that was what Joe Biden and kamla Harris and Colin all red wanted and it's resulted in 11 a half million people coming illegally into this country now let's talk about the economy of course it's consistently an issue for voters no difference this year's election what specific initiatives would you want to see implemented if reelected well listen we need to do a number of things number one we need to reign in spending we have seen Joe Biden and KLA Harris and Colin aled spend trillions of dollars they don't have borrow trillions of dollars they don't have and print trillions of dollars they don't have that's causing inflation the reason why families here in East Texas are paying more the gross grocery store paying more in rent paying more in electricity paying more in health care paying more in gasoline is because of the massive spending binge from Democrats on top of that we've seen Joe Biden and KLA Harris and Colin aled wage a war on energy on Texas oil and gas and they put in place regulation after regulation after regulation driving up the cost of energy the reason gasoline so expensive is because of these misguided policies and I'll tell tell you if and when Donald Trump is reelected and we win a republican majority in the Senate and a republican majority in the house we're going to see an end to that war on Texas energy that's going to lower the price of gasoline it's going to lower inflation across the board because we're going to end the policies that are causing this inflation you talk about raining and costs now I do want to talk about tax cuts because a lot of provisions of the Trump tax cut are set to expire next year the Congressional budget office says that could cost over three trillion in deficits over 10 years does that concern you in any way so it absolutely concerns me that that KLA Harris and Colin aled want to raise taxes by trillions of dollars so as you rightly noted the 2017 tax cuts many of those Provisions expire next year there is a massive difference in this election between the two sides so KLA Harris and Colin aled want to let those tax cuts expire that means they would raise taxes on Texans and Americans across this country by trillions of dollars in contrast Donald Trump has rightly said he would extend those tax cuts and if we have majorities I'm going to be fighting not just to extend them but to make them bigger and Bolder and I'll tell you why that could increase the deficit it not only it it won't and it didn't understand do you not trust a congressional budget office no they're always wrong they're they're they're systematically wrong and let's go back to 2017 the 2017 tax cut they made the same projections they were wrong then do you know we passed the 2017 tax cuts the next year you know the federal government took in more money than we had the year before the year after that the federal government took in even more money my number one priority is jobs jobs jobs jobs and that's the top priority of Texans across our state whether it's East Texas or west Texas the Panhandle or the valley the way you get jobs jobs come from small businesses jobs come from entrepreneurs putting Capital At Risk to meet a need but if you want to create an in environment where jobs are plentiful you want low taxes and you want you want low and reasonable regulations what kamla Harris and Colin all red stand for is higher taxes and higher regulations and those kill jobs and and they hurt Texans one industry that gives a lot of jobs in the state is energy oil and gas absolutely I want to ask you what should the balance be between keeping in place current oil and gas industry practices and creating more renewable energy jobs what should that balance be so so listen there is a massive difference when it comes to energy between me and my opponent Colin alled for 12 years I have been the leading defender of Texas energy and of oil and gas in the US Senate I'm proud to defend Oil and Gas and energy my view on energy is all of the above I believe in in in every energy source oil and gas and wind and solar and nuclear and everything but it shouldn't be Washington picking winners and losers and I'll point out actually when it comes to alternatives Texas is the number one producer of wind energy as well but what has happened what kamla Harris and Colin aled have done is attacked oil and gas in Texas repeatedly Colin all red has voted against stopping Joe Biden and kamla Harris from Banning fracking look Banning fracking would kill jobs all across Texas it would drive up energy cost for Texans and and let me give you in particular a vote that I think was utterly indefensible so Jo Biden as you know implemented a ban on new permits to export liquid natural gas he did that because he was mad at Texas and he wanted to hurt Texas that ban is terrible policy it kills jobs in the state of Texas not only that it hurts our allies who want Texas LNG it helps our enemies it was a gift of Vladimir Putin into Russia and it hurts the environment because our enemies produce LNG much dirtier than we do when the house Representatives voted to overturn Joe Biden's ban on new permits to export liquid natural gas Colin all red voted no he voted w- w- with the green New Deal crazies instead of standing up for Texas jobs I'm proud to fight for Texas jobs you've called for Constitutional Amendments on multiple occasions to limit Senators to two terms you're of course running for your third I want to ask you what would you say to voters who agree with with your Amendment and would like to see you step aside as a result and not run well listen I am a strong passionate believer in term limits and I have repeatedly introduced a constitutional amendment to term limit every member of con Congress my Amendment would Li limit house members to three terms Senate Senators to two terms I have would enthusiastically follow that if that applied to everyone but that needs to be in a cross theboard reform that applies to everyone when I've introduced it you know who opposes it Democrats you know who opposes that I'm sure Colin aled although he doesn't do press conferences it's been I think 62 days since he's done a press conference so we don't actually know what his views are but look there's a world of difference between supporting a reform that would apply across the board versus unilaterally term limiting myself when nobody else is following it I've never said that I would do that and you ask how many voters would would would want that I I it would be a very small number because I've spent 12 years fighting for 30 million Texans fighting for job jobs fighting for freedom fighting for security and when you have radicals like KLA Harris and and and Colin all R opening our border and allowing an invasion of the State of Texas 11 a half million illegal immigrants in this country many of whom are committing crimes here in Texas we need a senator who will stand up and fight for Texans I also want to talk about abortion that's another big issue this election big topic um representative aled has said he would CAU codify Row versus Wade if elected um you say the decision should be brought back to the States you agree with the do's decision why are you right and your opponent wrong well listen what the Supreme Court said in dobs and I think they're right is they said under a constitution when issues are are hotly contested public policy issues we leave them to the voters abortion is an issue on which people have very different views people of good faith can come to different views I'm pro-life I want to protect every human life but but people of good faith disagree on that question and what the Supreme Court said is the way we resolve that is we let the voters decide and that means every state adopts different rules different standards and and the rules and standards reflect the values of the voters in that state so of course California has different rules than Alabama of course Texas has different rules than New York because Texans and New Yorkers are different now I will tell you this Colin aled when it comes to abortion his views are r radical and extreme so Colin aled has voted for federal legislation that would strike down every single limitation on abortion across the country that would legalize abortion literally until the minute of birth that would legalize eighth month and ninth month abortions I got to tell you Michael that is objectively an extreme position nationally about 9% of Americans agree with Colin aled that you should legalize abortion in the 9th month 91% of Americans say hey too far that's too extreme even among those Americans who consider themselves pro-choice a majority of them say ninth month abortions are too much and yet Colin all Red's voting record supports that that that is out of step with the people of Texas for president Trump has called for you know his view is more so Banning abortions after 15 weeks roughly around there is that something you support if that became national law federal law would you be okay with that so listen the way the Senate operates is that no bill can move forward without 60 votes right now every single Senate Democrat is opposed to any limitation on abortion whatsoever which means we're not going to see any federal leg legislation move forward in other words the answer to that question is going to be decided by the Texas legislature down in Austin and by the governor and the people of Texas will make that decision and the people of every other state will make decisions in each state and I and I believe in democracy I think that the voters ought to decide but to be clear it is Congressman all red who does not believe in democracy who wants to take away the ability of Texans to decide what the rules should be here and instead adopt his extreme position legalizing eth and nth month abortions that that's not where the people of Texas are you talk about democracy and of course to a lot of others as well that is an issue and I do want to ask you about January 6th um on that day you objected to the certification of the results in and Arizona what would you say to voters who have lost trust in you as a result of that day well listen if you listen to what I said on the floor of the Senate that day what I called for is I called for Congress to adopt an an election commission to examine the evidence of voter fraud listen voter fraud is a serious problem it has been a problem in in the United States it's been a problem as long as we have had elections and there were serious allegations of voter fraud in that election what what I said it's been several years and there was no evidence of that so so your position I I want to understand what you're saying you're saying there was no voter fraud whatsoever in 2020 no so there was an AP survey non AP survey um an AP review that found fewer that found fewer than 475 cases of voter fraud in several that's not called evidence the fact that a reporter said that is and let me tell you something very strange let me tell you something very strange the Press has engaged in this bizarre ahistorical world where they insist suddenly voter fraud doesn't exist and it never changes the outcome of Elections you know who disagrees with you guy named Jimmy Carter ever heard of him the last major bipartisan examination of voter fraud was a bipartisan commission it was called The Carter Baker commission it was chaired by former Democratic President Jimmy Carter and former Republican Secretary of State James Baker they examined voter fraud here's what They concluded the Carter Baker conclu commission concluded voter fraud is a real problem it is persistent it has changed the outcomes of multiple elections and then it laid out a whole series of reforms to protect against voter fraud for example it recommended photo ID in elections we do that in the Texas it also recommended Banning ballot harvesting which is the corrupt practice of having paid political operatives handle other people's ballots well no evidence that suggest that's happening so you think Jimmy Carter was lying there's no evidence to suggest that is simply false what you were saying is objectively false and and just because you're in the media you don't have to repeat talking points I'm I'm sorry that that you feel you do but but that is not correct and and voter fraud has been a persistent Challenge and unless you want to say that former Democrat President Jimmy Carter is some Republican right-wing operative you need to go back and get your facts right I do want I ask you you called that day an act of terrorism three years ago do you still agree with that what I said is those who engage in acts of violence were committing acts of terrorism those who assaulted police officers understand there was a handful of people who engaged in acts of violence there were thousands of people who engaged in peaceful protests and let me tell you what Joe Biden and KLA Harris and the Democrats have done is they have used the acts of violence of a very small number of people to attack and slander and persecute people who engaged in constitutionally protected free speech and it has been the weaponization of the Department of Justice under Joe Biden and KLA Harris by the way with the enthusiastic cheering of congressional Republicans like Colin aled has been one of the greatest threats to Liberty we have ever seen the Department of Justice in the FBI should not be persecuting the political opponents of democ RS and sadly under Joe Biden and KLA Harris that's exactly what's happened I'll ask you again what would you what would you say to voters who have lost trust in you after that day I I would say they worked for the media because I can tell you what in Texas I've got a record of delivering results for the people of Texas for 12 years fighting for jobs fighting for freedom fighting for security in 12 years I've led the fight against terrible policies from left-wing Democrats like kamla Harris and Colin aled I've led the fight against Colin aled's open border policies that are hurting Texans I've led the fight against Colin aled and KLA Harris's efforts to defund the police and abolish the police I've led the fight to support the men and women of law enforcement and I'll tell you what in addition to that I've also authored and passed 100 different pieces of legislation in the law bipartisan major legislation in the same period of time do you know how many pieces of legislation Colin aled has authored and passed in law the answer is three so in six years in Congress he has not been able to pass meaningful bipartisan legislation I've authored and passed 100 major pieces of legislation focusing on jobs in the state of Texas and I'm going to give you two examples just as a contrast number one is legislation that I just passed into law in December of last year it deals with bridges in Texas so there are four new bridge projects that are going into place in South Texas from Texas to Mexico two in Laredo one in Brownsville one in Eagle Pass all four of the bridge projects were being delayed by bureaucratic roadblocks from the Biden White House I authored legislation bipartisan legislation to expedite the permitting to accelerate the permitting my legislation passed got overwhelming support from Republicans and Democrats was signed into law in December those permits have now been issued the results of those bridges when they are completed will be 10 tens of thousands of high-paying jobs in Texas it will benefit Texas farmers and ranchers and manufacturers and small businesses it will be billions in new investment in Texas let me give you a contrast of Colin all red and I think there's you look at every vote that that all red is cast it's actually easy to do because his first four years in Congress he voted 100% with Nancy Pelosi if you want Nancy Pelosi be to be the senator from Texas then Colin aled should be your choice because his voting record was identical to hers but let me focus on one vote in particular there was a bill called the police act the police act said if an illegal immigrant violently assaults a police officer that illegal immigrant should be deported now I got to say you could go to any city in Texas certainly in Tyler but you could go any town in the entire State grab 50 or 100 Texans in a room sit them down you could grab all Democrats and ask them hey if an illegal immigrant beats up a cop should we Deport that illegal immigrant overwhelmingly Texans would say of course you know how Colin all red voted he voted no he said even then when an illegal immigrant has assaulted a cop he doesn't want to deport him even then that's an extreme view it's how we've gotten the chaos at our Southern border when voters make their decision this election how much do you want them to focus on you and representative all Red's character and policies respectively listen I think election should be about records my record and Colin all Red's record and my record is one of delivering results for the people of Texas for 12 years consistently this election I always keep the election focused on substance and also my vision for Texas versus Colin aled's Vision I don't engage in character attack I don't go into the gutter I fully expect we already see Chuck Schumer and George Soros spending Millions they're going to run probably a hundred million of attack ads coming after me and they're going to attack me all day long that's fine that that that that's you know as they say politics it ain't bean bag I'm going to focus on the people of Texas and the policies that matter for Texas you know what Texans want Texans want more jobs we want lower taxes we want regulations that don't kill small businesses we want Oil and Gas and energy to prosper which means lower cost cost at the gas pump lower cost at the grocery store Texans also want we want our families to be safe and secure that means we support law enforcement that means we want to secure the Border those are kind Common Sense views that the overwhelming majority of Texans support that has been my record for 12 years and Colin all Red's record on every one of those issues has been on the wrong side voting against Texas jobs against Texas security and the safety of our families and so I think that's going to be the contrast the voters are going to have Senator Cruz we really appreciate you taking the time appreciate it