Cruz: I'm Not Trying to Play the Washington Rules, I'm Trying to Change the Rules

Cruz: I'm Not Trying to Play the Washington Rules, I'm Trying to Change the Rules

Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report with Bret Baier,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said when he forced a weekend vote on President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration he was “not trying to play the Washington rules,” but instead he is “trying to change the rules.”

Cruz said, “What the president did is unconstitutional. We’re facing a constitutional crisis and in my view it was critical. This Saturday after the fight we had, we had the very first vote on President Obama’s unconstitutional amnesty. That’s what I was pressing for, that’s what others were pressing for. And I think it mattered to honor our commitment to the voters, to force that vote.”

He added, “Let me be very clear, Washington doesn’t like change. So I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with you when you speak about people in Washington. Listen, I’ve said a long time the biggest divide we’ve got in this country politically, is not between Democrats and Republicans, it is between career politicians in Washington in both parties and the American people. So yes it is not a surprise that Washington fights hard against anyone trying to change the culture in Washington. But I can tell you outside of Washington, people are frustrated, they’re frustrated with the corruption, they’re frustrated with politicians that say one thing and do another.”

“I am not trying to play the rules of Washington, because I think Washington’s broken, I think it’s profoundly broken,” Cruz said. “And I think the only answer is to change Washington. Let me give you a tech example. In the tech world, you have disruptive apps that come in and disrupt the means of distributing a good or service. Let’s take for example, Uber coming in or Lyft coming into a city… The taxi commissions have done everything they can to kill Uber and Lyft. What we’re trying to do in the political world is very much the same thing, which is change the means of decision making, take it out of the smoke-filled rooms, where decision making is done in Washington between career politicians and lobbyists and instead empower the people. In my view, the only way we can turn this country around is if the American people rise up and hold every one of us accountable.” 

“So I’m not trying to play the Washington rules,” he added. “I’m trying to change the rules and make elected officials, myself included, accountable to the people who elected us.”ld be looking for whoever is standing up and leading, we should be standing up for whoever is fighting today. Whoever is making the case that the Obama economy is a disaster, that we have got to restore America’s leadership in the world. My advice, by my measure, there are a whole bunch of republican senators who are thinking about running in 2016. My advice to every one of them is stand up and lead. I would be thrilled if a year from now, we see a half dozen senators and governors arm in arm, leading together and making the case that the Obama agenda isn’t working and there is a better path.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

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