Texas GOP Vote

U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) asked former IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman yesterday to apologize for targeting Texans, and he refused. An excerpt of their exchange is below, and the full video can be found at the bottom of this post:

SEN. CORNYN: “Mr. Shulman, I wonder if you have any words of apology for my constituents and others who feel like the public trust has been violated by the IRS?”

MR. SHULMAN: “I’m deeply, deeply saddened by this whole set of events.

The events that have unfolded over the past week are showing big government at its worst. First we learned more details about the Obama administration’s coordinated attempt to misrepresent the September 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, which claimed four American lives. Then a senior IRS official acknowledged that her agency had deliberately targeted conservative groups for harassment. Meanwhile, the administration was forced to admit

Much to my surprise, there’s absolutely no trigger in this bill tied to border security, or any metrics, or measuring stick by which we could measure our success in securing the border. And I think it’s absolutely critical that we need both of those.

Drug smugglers and human traffickers don’t use E-verify, so we’re going to have to stop them through our border strategy. My amendment would plug multiple gaping holes in the border security provisions.   Read more »

Today I called on the Obama Administration to stop engineering flight delays and instead turn to a common-sense approach to budgeting. 

The President and his Administration traveled the country and tried to stir up anxiety and concern and fear over the imposition of the sequester, warning that the sky would fall like a modern-day "Chicken Little." Well, it's been almost two months since the sequester took effect, and the Administration's claims that the sky would fall have each proven to be false.   Read more »

Formidable in every respect, Margaret Thatcher was a steadfast defender of liberty, a fierce advocate of freedom, and a great friend to the United States. She never hesitated to remind Americans of our own obligations to the cause of freedom and the need for political courage to do what is right in the face of overwhelming adversity. Today, Americans and all freedom-loving people around the world mourn her passing. We will remember Lady Thatcher not only as the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, but as a transformative figure who revitalized her country and stared down tyranny. She was a loving mother, a devoted wife, and a supporter of liberty. May she rest in peace, and may we honor her memory through an unwavering commitment to freedom and individualism.   Read more »

I issued the following statement after introducing a budget amendment that will allow the Senate to express its support of the “No Budget, No OMB Pay Act of 2013.” This legislation would withhold the pay for the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and other Senate-approved OMB officials for every day the President’s budget is late.   Read more »

This morning, I responded on the Senate floor to President Obama’s assertion in an interview with ABC News that there is no immediate debt crisis.

The President has said that we must embrace a "balanced approach" to deficit reduction. Of course, reasonable people can disagree on what a balanced approach looks like, but we all know what a balanced budget looks like.

If the President truly does want a balanced approach to our fiscal and economic challenges, he will stop leading from behind and start leading from out front.   Read more »

Today I questioned Attorney General Eric Holder on the conduct of the Justice Department over their involvement in the prosecution of Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz:

Following is a partial transcript and video of the conversation:

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According to the Congressional Budget Office, the White House backed bill would actually raise the deficit this year by tens of billions of dollars.

It's absolutely ludicrous, especially when we consider that even with the sequester, spending will still be higher this year than it was last year, by the federal government.   Read more »

I joined a bipartisan group of Senators in pressing newly-confirmed Secretary of State John Kerry to approve the Keystone XL pipeline within the first quarter of the year. In a letter to the State Department, we called on Kerry and President Obama to provide the public and other stakeholders with a definitive process for approving the project by the end of March. The Keystone XL pipeline has been under review for almost four and half years.   Read more »