Ted Cruz shuts down Dem senator’s anti-wall tirade

Things got a little heated on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon as the chamber prepared to vote on two contrasting plans to end the partial government shutdown (both of which ultimately failed).

It all began with remarks from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, making the case for passing a measure to pay members of the Coast Guard.

Sen. Michael Bennett, D-Colo., responded with a floor speech in which he likened Cruz’s concerns to “crocodile tears” and lambasted Republicans for partially shutting down the federal government over funding for what he called a “medieval wall.”

Here’s Bennet’s full tirade:

Sen. Ted Cruz, however, was not about to take Bennett’s rant lying down. He fired back with a passionate rebuttal, seizing on Bennet’s use of the word “medieval.”

“I find it amusing a new adjective has creeped in,” Cruz responded. “It’s medieval wall. “I don’t know if there’s something in there that has a moat and has catapults and they’re throwing burning tar. Medieval wall now.”

“It does raise the question,” Cruz continued. “If walls are medieval, why did the senator from Colorado and every other Democrat in 2013 vote for 350 miles of medieval wall? To the extent walls are medieval, they were presumably were medieval in 2013 just as much as they are now.”

For reference, Senate Democrats not only voted for physical border security, but also to axe chain migration and the visa lottery back in 2013.

But Cruz wasn’t finished. He went on to call out Bennet, who does not represent a border state, for taking to the Senate floor to lecture his colleagues “about what it’s like on the border and what works securing the border.”

You can watch Cruz’s rebuttal here. It starts just after the three-hour mark.

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