Sen. Ted Cruz is sharply criticizing the Gang of Eight immigration reform bill, telling a tea party rally that the group needs to stop bragging about the legislation.
Cruz, R-Texas, said that about 20 Republican senators are sitting on the fence when it comes to the bill, and "the Gang of Eight is going on TV bragging that they think they can get 70 votes in the Senate and use that to bludgeon the House of Representatives."
Democrats are acting as a partisan block, Cruz said, while some in his own party "are listening to the political consultants in D.C."
Though the "Gang of Eight" senators who crafted the bill was composed of four Democrats and four Republicans, Cruz says Democratic leaders are not allowing adequate amendment proposals from GOP members.
"The Gang of Eight’s bill provides immediate legalization, and then possibly, maybe, some border security sometime in the future," Cruz said in an interview with
Politico. "The Gang of Eight bill is utterly toothless with regard to securing the border."
Cruz predicts the bill will not pass the House, where it would have to overcome a Republican majority. "If the objective is to fix the problem, the Democrats have to be willing to compromise," he said.
Cruz has launched an
online petition, with a goal of 200,000 signatures seeking to stop the bill. As of Friday afternoon, a bar graph on
Cruz's website showed that about 60,000 people had signed.
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