Cruz mocked for demanding taxpayer-funded security at airports: 'Slip away to Cancun undetected'
06 February 2024
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tried to slip an amendment in the most recent Federal Aviation Administration authorization bill that would provide taxpayer-funded security detail for lawmakers when flying commercial, along with expedited screening in private away from other passengers. The amendment was blasted by both liberals and conservatives alike.
"Ted Cruz wants lawmakers to get security escorts through America’s airports so he can flee Texas to go to Cancun in private," tweeted Marcus Flowers, who ran against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) in 2022. Many social media users seized on Cruz's infamous photo that was taken while millions of Texans were out of power during a 2021 winter storm, in which Texas' junior US senator was seen departing for a Cancun resort rather than helping constituents.
"Someone wants taxpayers to pay to keep them safe from accountability, the violence they themselves are inciting and TSA lines on their way to Cancun when their constituents are dying in the cold with no heat or electricity," former Democratic congressional candidate Liz Whitmer Gereghty posted to X/Twitter. "Does this work for you?"
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Cruz defended the amendment, telling Politico that "serious security threats facing public officials" and that "It’s important that we take reasonable measures to keep everyone safe." However, John Gravois, who is the assistant politics editor at the Dallas Morning News, quoted the head of the Airport Law Enforcement Agencies Network, who said that Cruz's proposal would only further burden the many police officers who already work at airports.
Conservative influencer Fred Johnson heaped criticism on the Texas senator, likening his proposal to "SECURITY FOR ME BUT NOT FOR THEE."
Former Houston Chronicle opinion editor Evan Mintz wrly remarked on Cruz's call for a separate security screening process for lawmakers out of the view of the public, tweeting that the "[Transportation Security Administration] is the great equalizer." Liberal commentator Drew Savicki's take was similar, writing "Heaven forbid our elected officials appear among us lowly commoners." Former Chicago Tribune editor Mark Jacob theorized that Cruz wanted the taxpayer-funded security detail in order to "help him slip away to Cancun undetected."
X user Woody Woodcaster was more direct in his criticism, tweeting "They aren't royalty! They can go through security just like every other American!"