Sen. Cruz Offers Amendment to Deny Stimulus Checks to 249,000 U.S. Citizens from Texas
FORT WORTH, TX — As part of the vote-a-rama around the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is offering an amendment to deny more than 5 million tax-paying U.S. citizens across the country stimulus checks because they married an immigrant or have immigrant parents. Senator Cruz’s Amendment #968 would deny millions of U.S. citizens COVID-19 relief, including 249,000 U.S. citizens from Texas who have endured a pandemic, a recession and even a Texas freeze while Sen. Cruz went to Cancun with his family.
The amendment threatens to reinstate the “marriage penalty” that was eliminated in the COVID-19 relief package passed in December thanks to a bill introduced by Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and supported by John Cornyn (R-TX), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and seven other Republican senators. The bill was signed into law by then President Trump.
The American Rescue Plan does not provide any COVID-19 relief to undocumented immigrants, despite the fact that they pay taxes and work in a sector designated as “essential” by the Department of Homeland Security to help our nation rebuild and recover.
Senators from both parties should VOTE NO on Senator Cruz’s Amendment #968!
Alfredo Duarte, CEO of Taxco Produce based in Dallas, Texas, said the following:
“Texas families and businesses have been hit hard by the pandemic and the recent ice storm. While Senator Ted Cruz was vacationing in Cancun, my business was trying desperately to provide produce and groceries to families without power. Now Sen. Cruz wants to punish U.S. citizens for who they married or parented by. It’s not only immoral. It’s un-American and anti-family.”
Rebecca Shi, Executive Director of ABIC, issued the following statement:
“No U.S. citizen should be denied COVID-19 relief because they married an immigrant or because their parents are immigrants. This amendment seeks to reimpose the so-called “marriage penalty” that was eliminated in December with broad bipartisan support and signed into law by former President Trump. We urge Senators from both parties to reject this poison pill designed to delay much-needed relief to the American people.”
Anastasia Campos, a U.S. citizen from Texas who lives in a mixed-status family, said the following:
“It is unfathomable that a U.S. Senator would punish millions of citizens based on who they are in a legal marriage for political gain. Families like mine should have never been excluded from stimulus checks to begin with. My entire household are taxpayers and productive members of society, and we should have had access to the same relief as any other American during this time of crisis. If the immigrant community is good enough to pay over $20 billion in taxes, they should be good enough to get emergency pandemic relief as well. We are looking forward to getting the first and second stimulus checks due to this unfortunate world-wide crisis, which does not discriminate based on your immigration status. Furthermore, attacking U.S. children based on their parents immigration status should never be accepted or tolerated. These are U.S. citizen children.”