CLAY: Senator Ted Cruz is now joining us. Senator Cruz, appreciate you taking the time.

SEN. CRUZ: Great to be with you.

CLAY: What is what can you tell us about this lame-duck session that is currently underway —

SEN. CRUZ: (sigh)

CLAY: — between now and obviously January when everybody gets inaugurated in? What is what is on the table? What do you think potentially may pass? What should pass; what shouldn’t? How much should even be occurring in this lame-duck session?

SEN. CRUZ: Well, unfortunately, this lame duck has already shaped up to be quite lame, and it could get substantially worse. The first thing that Congress did in the lame duck is pass the Democrats’ gay marriage bill. I think that is profoundly dangerous. I believe as a consequence of this bill, the Biden IRS is going to weaponize the IRS to go after churches, to go after charities —

BUCK: Senator Cruz? Senator Cruz? Can I just jump in? We haven’t talked about that yet on the show, actually. So could you just lay out what this bill is supposed to do and then tell us what… You would then continue on with what you’re saying, which is what you think is going to happen.

SEN. CRUZ: Well, sure. So what the bill was supposed to do, what the Democrats sold it as doing is codifying the Obergefell decision. Obergefell was the U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down marriage laws across the country and that mandated gay marriage across the country. If it just did that, that would not be changing U.S. law because Obergefell is still U.S. law. But this bill goes substantially further than that. And I believe the consequence of this bill will be that the Biden IRS will be weaponized, and in particular that they are going to go after and target churches and charities and universities and schools — K-through-12 schools — that believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.

Whether they are Christian, whether they are Jewish, whether they are of another faith, those who have a religious belief that that that does not embrace same-sex marriage, I think we will see the Biden IRS targeting them for persecution, targeting them for denying tax-exempt status, targeting them for trying to make them ineligible to do any sort of business with the government. And I think it was an extraordinarily dangerous vote. I tried to lead the fight behind an amendment that Senator Mike Lee introduced, which would have protected religious liberty, which would have prevented the Biden IRS from targeting people of faith.

Sadly, that did not get sufficient votes — and in particular, there were 12 Republicans who voted with the Democrats and prevented us from being able to take up and adopt Mike Lee’s amendment. So I think that was a very dangerous start to the lame duck. There are two other very bad things that I think could easily happen in the lame duck. Number one, we’re going to be taking up — likely next week — the National Defense Authorization Act, which right now does nothing to prevent the Department of Defense from firing soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines who choose not to get the covid vaccine.

And the Biden administration has fired thousands of servicemen and women. I’m leading the fight in the Senate, urging Republicans to say we will not take up the National Defense Authorization Act unless we pass legislation that I’ve introduced called the Americans Act that protects our fighting men and women and prohibits the Biden administration from firing them for their own personal covid vaccine choices. It’s not clear to me whether we will get Republicans to stand together or not. We could end up with another group of 10 to 12 Republicans joining with the Democrats and rolling over.

And guys, I got to tell you, the third one that is even bigger than both of those is Senate Republican leadership — Mitch McConnell — wants to pass the Chuck Schumer-Nancy Pelosi omnibus funding bill, which would fund the entirety of the Biden administration through September 30th of next year. It would adopt Pelosi and Schumer’s policy priorities and it would base… It would prevent the new Republican Congress from passing a funding bill until nearly the end of next year. I think that is insane, and yet it’s what Senate Republican leadership wants to do.

CLAY: So, this point you just made about the covid shots and the fact that we still have lots of men and women who lost their jobs over this. You really don’t think that the Republicans are going to stand up and be willing to pass a bill on this? Like, to say nothing of Democrats. We don’t know what Manchin or Sinema or anybody else that might be persuadable would do. That’s insane to me that we can’t get every single Republican to agree that that was a wrong decision. Is that really where we are?

SEN. CRUZ: (sigh) Well, there are a couple of points, but the fundamental one on this is that Republican leadership doesn’t want to fight on anything. We just had a big battle for Republican leadership where I led the effort challenging Mitch McConnell — and in particular, I made a motion to delay leadership elections until after the Georgia runoffs so we could have a real debate. A, I think Herschel Walker deserves a say in this election, but B, we need to have a real debate about is there anything leadership is willing to stand up and fight on?

The last two years there hasn’t been. And sadly, their answer is still no. And so when it comes to… Look, leadership is fine with having a show vote on something like vaccinations. They just don’t want to use the leverage. The only leverage the minority has is the power of the filibuster. It’s 41 Republicans standing together and saying, “We will block the bill from coming up unless you add these protections.” If we don’t have 41 stand together, the minority can’t do anything. We get rolled over. And right now, leadership does not want to use our leverage that way.

BUCK: We’re speaking to Senator Ted Cruz, and, Senator, we started out today talking about what’s going on with the White House claiming to have had Biden — after falsely claiming that Kamala had been to the border and now Biden’s press secretary saying he has been — to the border. We think she means in 2008, doesn’t really count. What where do you see all of this going right now, given the divided Congress that we’re coming into? But the fact that we have over 5 million illegal migrants entering the country in just the last couple of years. What’s going to happen here? And what should Republicans be saying on this issue so that we can actually do something about it?

SEN. CRUZ: Well, the crisis at the southern border is the worst it has ever been in the history of our nation. Over 5 million people have crossed illegally under Joe Biden. And that is not an unintended side effect. That is what they want. This chaos — the deaths, the fentanyl flooding in, all of that — is a result of deliberate decisions from Joe Biden and the Democrats. There’s a reason that Biden and Harris have not been to the border, and it’s not even that they don’t want to see it, although they don’t want to see it. But the real reason is if they go, the TV cameras will follow them.

And you cannot see the misery and suffering — and the children being physically and sexually assaulted — and the disease and the crime that is coming across the border. You can’t see it and defend it. There’s no argument when you see it firsthand that this is humane, that this isn’t compassionate. It is a humanitarian disaster. And the what the Democrats have counted on is the corrupt corporate media ignoring it, refusing to cover it. Look, the folks that listen to your show know about what’s happening on the southern border. But if you watch CNN, if you watch MSNBC, there is no border crisis.

They just don’t cover it. That’s the reason Biden won’t go. Now, you asked what will change with a Republican majority in the House? I believe one of the first actions of the Republican majority is going to be to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of Homeland Security. And the value of that… I’ve been calling for that for months. The value of that is to go to the Senate and have a trial on the floor of the Senate laying these facts out before the American people to force the press to cover them, to stop them from their deliberate effort of silencing and hiding the truth from the American people.

CLAY: Speaking of silencing and hiding the truth, we also talked earlier in the show — and I’m sure you’ve seen it — about what Apple is doing in China. In particular, there are strong allegations that they aren’t allowing Chinese protesters to be able to communicate at the behest of the Chinese government, Apple is, and comparing the way the Biden White House is applying basic rules of human rights to Twitter and to Apple. What do you think of that larger picture as we see these protests emerging in China, and Apple certainly is not speaking out in favor of the protesters, and also the Biden White House simultaneously lecturing Elon Musk and Twitter over the safety of their platform?

SEN. CRUZ: I think it is enormously concerning and deeply, deeply messed up. And as you guys know, I do a podcast three times a week called Verdict with Ted Cruz, and the latest podcast that just came out yesterday is entire league doing a deep dove on the question you just asked on Apple disabling Airdrop in China so that the protesters can’t communicate with each other. I think it is shameful and disgraceful that Apple is knuckling under to the Chinese communists and becoming an instrumentality of oppressing the Chinese people. I also think it is shameful — and again, I discussed this at length and in the Verdict podcast — that the Biden White House is terrified about speaking up against the Chinese government.

They issued an incredibly tepid statement. They’re unwilling to stand with the protesters. They’re unwilling to give voice to the protesters who are demonstrating extraordinary heroism. By the way, the Biden White House is also unwilling to stand with the protesters in Iran who are likewise showing extraordinary courage. They’re unwilling to stand with the people of Venezuela. They’re unwilling to stand with the people of Cuba. This Biden White House stands with dictators and enemies of America even when they’re repressing their own people, and I think it is truly disgraceful.

CLAY: Last question for you. We’re talking to Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. You are in the Senate. You’ve been in the Senate a long time. I know you’ve been campaigning for and with Herschel Walker. That election run off is Tuesday of next week. Herschel is going to be on with us in the third hour of this program. What’s the difference between 50 and 51 for the Democrats? What’s the difference between 49 and 50 for the Republicans?

SEN. CRUZ: So, the difference is massive, and I will say everyone listening to the show, who’s in the state of Georgia, the runoff is on December 6th. Please come out and vote. It is incredibly important you come out and vote. You can vote early. Vote early, even better. Vote early and get it done right now to be sure of it. But please come out and vote. This election is 100% about turnout, and right now it appears the Democrats are energized and they’re turning out, which means it’s all going to come down to whether common-sense, freedom-loving Georgians stand up. What are the differences?

Well, if the Democrat wins, if Raphael Warnock wins, it will give the Democrats a 51-vote majority. That will mean the Democrats have a majority on every single committee in the Senate. What does that mean? That means every single committee in the Senate will be able to issue subpoenas — will be able to use subpoenas to harass conservatives, to harass Republicans, to attack their enemies. If Herschel Walker wins, the Senate is evenly divided, which means every committee is evenly divided. That means the Democrats can’t issue subpoenas. They can’t use the power of subpoena power to attack their enemies.

Communist China is murdering and torturing its citizens, engaging in draconian violations of human rights, maintaining concentration camps, using slave labor, and is covering up COVID.

It’s evil. #Verdict https://t.co/7wDys1g1IH

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 1, 2022

What else does it mean? Chuck Schumer has said if they have a 51-vote majority, they’ll be able to expedite their radical and dangerous agenda. They’ll be able to move it much, much faster. With a 50-50 Senate, it slows them down enormously. What else does it mean? I think with a 51-vote majority, the odds that the Democrats end the filibuster skyrocket. This last Congress, two Democrats stood up and said no, Joe Manchin and Kirsten Cinema. I always thought it was cinema that had the real guts and was holding the line. And I think if Manchin…

If it’s only a one-vote margin, I think Schumer will get Manchin to role. And if that happens, if they end the filibuster, it means the Democrats, when they have a majority, will be able to do things like federalize all elections, strike down all election integrity laws, legalize every illegal alien in America, make the District of Columbia a state to elect two more Democrat senators, and pack the U.S. Supreme Court with four new left-wing justices to take away your constitutional rights. All of those are on the ballot in Georgia. So, I think it is incredibly, incredibly important to come out, support Herschel Walker, and vote in the Georgia runoff if you’re in Georgia.

BUCK: Senator Ted Cruz, appreciate you being with us as always.

SEN. CRUZ: Thank you. Take care.