You would expect a U.S. Senator who announces his candidacy for President to have a distinguished track record of service and influence within that august body. That is, a Senator who has been influential among his colleagues and has written and sponsored important legislation that has actually become law; someone who has the ability to get things done in the Senate and pass legislation that has an important impact on the lives of Americans.  How does Sen. Cruz stack up?

Since he has been in the Senate, Ted Cruz (TP-Texas), who thinks himself worthy of consideration for President, has sponsored exactly one piece of legislation that has become law.  It was a bill to amend an existing statute that gives the President power to exclude certain persons from coming into the U.S. to attend the United Nations.  The bill added to the existing prohibition for letting spies into the U.S. by also including persons who have been found to have engaged in terrorist activities. I think we can all agree that we don’t need to be letting terrorists into our country.

Here is the text of the bill in its entirety.

Public Law 113-100
113th Congress

                                                              An Act
 
To deny admission to the United States to any representative to the United Nations who has been found to have been engaged in espionage activities or a terrorist activity against the United States and poses a  threat to United States national security interests. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. VISA LIMITATION FOR CERTAIN REPRESENTATIVES TO THE
                              UNITED NATIONS.

    Section 407(a) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991 (8 U.S.C. 1102 note) is amended–
            (1) by striking “such individual has been found to have  been engaged in espionage activities” and inserting the following: “such individual–
            “(1) has been found to have been engaged in espionage activities or a terrorist activity (as defined in section 212(a)(3)(B)(iii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)(iii)))”; and
            (2) by striking “allies and may pose” and inserting the
        following: “allies; and
            “(2) may pose”.

    Approved April 18, 2014.

That new semi-colon does it for Red, let’s just skip the election and let Ted take over now.

Numerous media outlets are reporting that Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) will announce his candidacy for President today at Liberty University in Virginia. It’s very rare for a candidate to announce at a venue away from his home state. But Cruz’s time in DC has shown that his political agenda has almost nothing to do with Texas or improving the lives of Texas citizens. The Cruz agenda appears to be about one thing and one thing only – the greater glorification of all things Ted Cruz. And one has to admit that it has been a remarkably success so far. Red cannot recall a junior senator raising such a ruckus in his first term of holding any political office. Which raises the question of what it is that qualifies Cruz for President – beyond being 35 years old and a natural born citizen of the U.S.? And speaking of that second requirement – where do the “birthers’ stand on the undeniable fact that Cruz was born in Canada? Red doesn’t question Cruz’s technical qualification for the highest office, but how can one have questioned Obama’s qualification for the office and then ignore the same problem with respect to Cruz. For a decent analysis of the situation see Rick Ungar’s column in Forbes.