Ted Cruz Just Voted Against A Bill Condemning Donald Trump’s Muslim Ban

Ted Cruz just endorsed the idea that America should ban people from America based on their religion.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee today voted on a resolution that, in the words of its author, seemed like “a no-brainer.”

The resolution is simple, just 41 words:

“It is the sense of the Senate that the United States must not bar individuals from entering into the United States based on their religion, as such action would be contrary to the fundamental principles on which this Nation was founded.”

Most Americans, before, say, this summer, would assume that every Republican would jump up and do somersaults for the chance to vote for this simple “religious freedom” resolution.

Not Ted Cruz.

The Texas Tea Party Senator voted no.

Why?

Democratic U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, the author of the resolution, proposed it in direct response to Donald Trump‘s offensive call to ban all Muslims from entering the United States.

“I know many on this committee on both sides of the aisle rightfully expressed their outrage about the call earlier this week to shut our borders to Muslims,” Sen. Leahy told his colleagues today, as Buzzfeed reported. “Now let’s just go on record, as formally rejecting this reprehensible proposition. We’ve heard from FBI Director Comey that ISIL’s narrative, part of it, is that the United States is anti-Muslim, they use that in recruiting. The Department of Defense has told us the same thing. I think we ought to listen to what our national security leaders [said] and send a clear and direct message that America welcomes all peoples of all faiths.”

Four Republican Senators, Cruz, Jeff Sessions, David Vitter, and Thom Tillis, voted against the resolution. It passed 16-4.

“I just wanted to point out that we could show to the rest of the world that we don’t have religious tests,” Sen. Leahy told reporters later. “I assumed this would be a no-brainer.”

The resolution is a nonbinding amendment to a nuclear terrorism bill. Sen. Cruz’s only comment: “Nuclear terrorism legislation is not the proper place for political games,” Politico reports.

Sen. Cruz’s immigration advisor, Sen. Sessions, labeled the resolution “radical.”

Cruz is doing everything he possibly can to not antagonize Donald Trump, but more importantly, to not antagonize Donald Trump’s supporters, whom he is trying to grab once, he assumes, Trump exists the race.

 

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license