A CCP Connection the Media won't Cover, AI at the Oval & Can Schools be Taught to Read Again Week In Review

Summary

The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

Episode: A CCP Connection the Media won't Cover, AI at the Oval & Can Schools be Taught to Read Again: Week In Review
Date: July 25, 2026
Host: Ben Ferguson
Guest: Senator Ted Cruz
Podcast by: iHeartPodcasts

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Overview

This episode of The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson centers on three key stories from the week:

1. The growing investigation into Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked businessman Neville Roy Singham and his influence operations in the US
2. A behind-the-scenes look into a substantial White House meeting on AI legislation
3. A bipartisan push for federal education policy to enforce effective reading instruction in schools

Rich with on-the-ground insights, direct quotes, and legislative explanations, Ben and Senator Cruz dive into the heart of current political controversies and policy debates shaping America.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Chinese Communist Party Connection: Neville Roy Singham Investigation

• Neville Roy Singham, a wealthy businessman with deep ties to the CCP, is under federal investigation in the Southern District of New York for possible violations of foreign agent and tax laws.

  • Alleged to have backed a network of US nonprofits and activist groups (e.g., Code Pink, The People’s Forum) funneling hundreds of millions into leftist causes, at times aligning with pro-Beijing messaging.
  • Media has allegedly downplayed this story despite its significant implications for US political funding.

• Senator Ted Cruz’s Perspective: The Need to "Follow the Money"

  • He urges the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI to trace financial sources funding anti-American and anti-Semitic protests, as well as groups like the DSA, BLM, and Antifa.
  • "When people carry out these acts of violence. It's not organic. When you look at the anti-Semitic protests, the tents all match. Follow the money." – Sen. Ted Cruz (04:00)
  • Cites CBS and Free Press reports implicating Singham in sophisticated efforts to shape political messaging and soften activism against the Chinese government.

• Who supports investigation?

  • Bipartisan interest: Senator Chuck Grassley wrote to the DOJ emphasizing connections between Singham, CCP, and US activist groups.
  • Quote from Grassley’s letter:

    "Evidence suggests that the People's Forum and CodePink have been funded and influenced by Mr. Neville Roy Singham and the Communist Chinese government, both of which are foreign principles." – Sen. Ted Cruz, quoting Grassley (08:00)

  • Singham denies all allegations of being controlled or funded by the CCP.

• Foreign Money and Influence Operations

  • Discussion of how US public discourse on issues like AI and tech policy is affected by foreign-funded think tanks and reports.
  • Highlights concerns about efforts to block US advances in AI to allow China's global dominance.

Notable Quote

"I don't know if this guy is just a communist who hates America and wants to destroy our nation, or if he's a communist who hates America and wants to destroy our nation, who is working directly for and may even be funded by the Chinese Communist government. That's one of the things that I would imagine the investigation will examine."
— Sen. Ted Cruz (09:04)

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2. Inside the Oval: The AI Legislation Debate

• White House Meeting Recap

  • Senator Cruz attended a high-level Oval Office meeting with President Trump, Senator Marsha Blackburn, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant, and NEC head Kevin Hassett to discuss a legislative package on AI.
  • Marsha Blackburn was advocating her "kids safety" and "no fakes" bills to the President.
  • Senator Cruz elaborates on legislative realities:
    • While supportive of protecting children and actors from AI-driven image/voice fakes, Cruz remains forthright about the bills' poor prospects without bipartisan support.

• Political Dynamics

  • Blackburn is seen pushing her bill in what is suggested as a play to position Tennessee as an AI industry hub, coinciding with her own gubernatorial ambitions.
  • Cruz clarifies distinctions among major bills:
    • KOSA (Kids Online Safety Act): Strong bipartisan Senate support, blocked by House leadership due to liability issues for tech companies (18:18-19:22).
    • App Store Accountability: Opposed by Apple and Google; faces intra-industry and partisan divides.
    • No Fakes Act: Aims to protect personal likeness from unauthorized AI use, but raises free speech concerns.

Notable Quotes

"I stayed quiet for much of the meeting... Then I said, 'Listen, if Marcia introduces the bill, I'll mark it up, I'll put it up on the committee for a vote...but...this bill has very little, if any chance of passing.'"
— Sen. Ted Cruz (16:41)

"There's strong opposition on aspects of the bill from Republican leadership in the House...I don't want you to be surprised. You lean in and say, let's go pass this bill, and then it doesn't pass."
— Sen. Ted Cruz (17:36)

• Key Legislative Concerns
  • Free speech worries over political satire and parody being unintentionally censored by broad language in the No Fakes Act (21:48-23:00).
  • Cruz seeks "the Venn diagram...that is the intersection of what bills could make a positive impact...and have a real path to passage." (24:32)

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3. Can Schools Be Taught to Read Again? The Push for Scientifically-Based Reading Instruction

• The Crisis:

  • Stark data: 33% of eighth graders in 2024 were below basic reading levels; average reading scores have dropped notably since 2019 and especially since 1992.
  • Cause: A shift away from phonics to "three-cueing" and "WOKE" reading methods, which data show are ineffective.
    • "Three cueing" system uses context, pictures, and sentences—shown to fail students.
    • Several red states (MS, AL, LA, TX, etc.) have banned three-cueing, with dramatic improvements after switching back to phonics—a phenomenon called the "Mississippi Miracle."
    • "Mississippi has risen from 49 in the country to a top 10 state in the country [in] fourth grade reading achievement." – Sen. Ted Cruz (31:40)

• The Solution:

  • Senator Cruz and Democrat Brian Schatz introduce bipartisan legislation:
    Federal reading funds will require states to use empirically-proven reading instruction (i.e., phonics-based "science of reading").
  • The bill is praised for its bipartisan origin and its focus on data, not ideology.

Notable Quotes

"Democrats don't praise red states that often. And I said, yeah, I have. It's fantastic. And he said, what do you think about us joining together to draft legislation that would require, if you're going to get the federal funds that are going for literacy, you've got to teach using the reading methods that the data show actually produce results."
— Sen. Ted Cruz describing Brian Schatz's pitch (34:07)

"I'm a huge fan of phonics. I don't like these WOKE teaching methods that are just a failure and a disaster."
— Sen. Ted Cruz (34:20)

• Legislative Path Forward:
  • Next steps: Gathering bipartisan support, committee markup (HELP Committee), potential for unanimous consent or attachment to other legislation.
  • Cruz is optimistic but expects opposition ("WOKE Educrats," teachers' unions, some blue states).

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Memorable Moments & Additional Quotes

• On the role of foreign influence in US discourse:

  "We are seeing more and more paid foreign influence operations. And China puts a lot of money into undermining America...This is a deliberate foreign influence effort that is targeting the American economy. It's targeting AI."
  — Sen. Ted Cruz (10:08)

• On AI legislative practicalities:

  "This is just a pissing match between giant tech companies. I'd like to see age verification. I support age verification. I'm pushing for it. But every Democrat opposes age verification."
  — Sen. Ted Cruz (20:10)

• On building a coalition for education reform:

  "If we've got a good enough coalition behind it, we've got a real chance...I'm encouraged to see that we're able to get a Democrat and Republican working together saying, look, we really ought to teach our kids to read."
  — Sen. Ted Cruz (37:30, 38:13)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:19 – Show Theme: Ben Ferguson previews major topics
• 03:37-11:18 – Deep dive: Neville Roy Singham/CCP investigation, foreign influence in US activist and policy circles
• 14:37-24:49 – White House AI meeting: Legislative dynamics, debates over AI bills, partisan realities
• 28:14-38:13 – Education and literacy crisis: Data, "Mississippi Miracle," bipartisan solution and bill path

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Summary Table: Major Legislative Topics

| Topic | Problem / Crisis | Proposed Solution | Notable Resistance | Key Quote | |----------------------------------|----------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|--------------------|-------------------------------------| | CCP Influence (Singham) | Foreign money shaping US policy, protests | DOJ/FBI investigation, bipartisan pressure | Media neglect | "Follow the money." (04:00) | | AI/Social Media Legislation | Child safety, image fakes, AI misuse | Kids safety, No Fakes Act, App Age Verification | GOP/Dem divides, Tech lobbying | "This bill has very little, if any chance of passing." (16:41) | | K-12 Reading Instruction Reform | 33% of 8th graders below reading basics | Federal funds tied to proven, phonics-based teaching| Likely teachers' unions/“WOKE Educrats” | "Mississippi Miracle" (31:40) |

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Overall Tone and Style

• Direct, urgent, and combative on national security and foreign influence
• Candid, slightly skeptical, and pragmatic regarding legislative prospects
• Nonpartisan optimism on education when bipartisan collaboration surfaces

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This episode breaks through mainstream media silence on foreign influence, gives listeners a look inside high-stakes Oval Office discussions, and offers hope for bipartisan, evidence-based solutions to America’s literacy crisis.

Transcript

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[Ben Ferguson]

Welcome. It is verdict with Ted Cruz week in review. Here are some of the stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week. First up, a Chinese tycoon that is having major influence in America now being investigated. So what does this mean? We explain it up next. A big meeting at the White House in the Oval Office talking about the future of AI. Senator Cruz was with the President talking about that and he gives us the details. And finally, major Legislation to help with children in America with reading. Yes. Actual standards before the federal government sends your tax dollars. So is it bipartisan enough to actually pass? We break that down as well. It's the Weekend Review and it starts right now. Senator, I want to start off this last segment by saying I don't ever want our government to be weaponized against our political adversaries. Notice I didn't even use the word enemy. Democrats use the word enemy to describe Republicans. I say adversaries. But I do want to hold those accountable that are actually doing corrupt things. And we now know a lot more about the investigation and the Chinese Communist Party tycoon Neville Roy Singham. And it should get a lot more attention than it is right now. Certainly the media, they're looking the other way.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, that's exactly right. And you know, we ended the last segment by talking about the need for accountability of the corruption within the Biden administration, that those who broke the law need to be held to account. And on this podcast, we have talked at great length about the need to follow the money that these anti American efforts. Look, if you look at all of the stories in today's pod, they're interwoven. The dsa, there is clearly a funding stream. Funding the anti Semitic protests on college campuses, funding the Communists tearing this country apart, funding the dsa, funding the Black Lives Matter and antifa riots across the country, funding the open border riots in LA and elsewhere. The money stream. And what I've urged the Department of Justice, what I've urged the FBI from the beginning of this second Trump administration. Follow the money. The people who are paying for this, this is not organic. When people carry out these acts of violence. It's not organic. When you look at the anti Semitic protests, the tents all match. Follow the money. And then we in a previous podcast a couple of weeks ago talked about the bombshell story that we've all seen the rising sentiment against AI that on the left and the right, suddenly people are saying, gosh, I don't like AI shut down data centers. Kathy Hochul just this past couple of weeks said no data centers in New York. And the bombshell story that much of that is being paid for by a communist named Neville Roy Singham who has deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party. And listen, we're in a race, America and China, to see who will develop AI first. If China wins, it will put China in a position to dominate the world economically. But also with every whichever country wins, the values of that country will dominate AI. So if China wins, AI will be dominated by Communist Party control and surveillance and propaganda and espionage. And I think all of us want AI to instead reflect American values, to reflect free speech and individual liberty and free enterprise. Well, a bit of good news, which is the Trump Department of Justice is doing exactly that. It's following the money and it's holding people to account. Let me read from a story in CBS News. Husband of Code Pink Founder Being Investigated Under Federal Foreign Agent and Tax Laws Neville Roy Singham, the wealthy husband of the founder of the progressive nonprofit Code Pink and the benefactor of far left political causes, is under criminal investigation by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York. According to multiple sources with knowledge of the matter, the investigation began by looking into possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration act and has since expanded into a criminal tax probe over whether the money was unlawfully funneled through nonprofits he controls and whether he lied on the tax forms for those nonprofits known as 9 90s. Sangham is a major financial backer of a New York City based nonprofit called the People's Forum, a left leaning nonprofit that advocates for causes impacting the working class and other marginalized groups. He's also the founder of ThoughtWorks, an IT consulting company, and is married to Jody Evans, co founder of the anti war group Code Pink. Singham sold ThoughtWorks to a private equity firm in 2017 for $785 million. At around the same time, Singham moved his business operations to Shanghai, China and began funding a vast global network of of nonprofits and think tanks to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, according to reports of the Free Free Press in the New York Times. Singer moved the funds through shell companies and other opaque entities, advancing his brand of leftist politics while pushing pro Beijing messaging. He injected much of his own money into Code Pink funding up to a quarter of its operation, according to reports. Soon, Code Pink softened its stance on China, which had previously been highly critical of Beijing's human rights policies. Among other things, the group defended China against widespread reports its government was committing genocide against a Muslim minority group in the country's far northwest. So I and numerous other senators on the Judiciary Committee have urged the Department of Justice to look into this. Chuck Grassley wrote a letter urging DOJ to do that. Here's what Grassley's letter said. Quote, evidence suggests that the People's Forum and CodePink have been funded and influenced by Mr. Neville Roy Singham and the Communist Chinese government, both of which are foreign principles. The evidence also suggests that the People's Forum and Code Pink have engaged in covered political activities that directly advance the Communist Chinese government's political and policy interest. And, and, and by the way, Neville Roy Singham's response to that is, quote, I categorically deny and repudiate any suggestion that I am a member of work for, take orders from or follow instructions of any political party or government or their representatives. I am solely guided by my beliefs, which are long held personal views. So, well, there's gonna be an investigation into it. I don't know if this guy is just a communist who hates America and wants to destroy our nation, or if he's a communist who hates America and wants to destroy our nation, who is working directly for and may even be funded by the Chinese Communist government. That's one of the things that I would imagine the investigation will examine. Either way, I am very glad the Department of Justice is examining the hundreds of millions of dollars he is using to, to fund the people that are tearing our country apart.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, and that's the key thing there. And if you're doing something that's, that is illegal and it's coming in with the Chinese Communist Party, why would anyone not want that to be investigated if that's what the evidence is showing? That's the core part here that I think matters for all Americans.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

You know, it's one of the things that is dangerous in this world where we're on social media, where you see things, you're on X or Facebook or wherever you are, and suddenly a lot of people seem concerned about something and that can seem organic. And we are seeing more and more paid foreign influence operations. And China puts a lot of money into undermining America. Qatar puts a lot of money into undermining America. Iran puts a lot of money into undermining America. You know, there was a report from the Bitcoin Policy Institute that says for the past five years, nonprofits funded by Neville Roy Singham have been putting out papers opposing export controls on advanced semiconductors to China, putting out newsletters quoting Chinese Communist officials blasting America's approach to, to technology, and articles characterizing US Data centers as fronts in the, quote, new Cold War on China. And this is a deliberate foreign influence effort that is targeting the American economy. It's targeting AI. It's trying to get America to stop leading in AI and it's trying ultimately to defeat capitalism and destroy our country. These, it has the exact same objectives as the DSA radicals that are taking over the Democrat Party.

[Ben Ferguson]

Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week.

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[Senator Ted Cruz]

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[Ben Ferguson]

The headlines they move on. But the heartache and the terror they do not. Iran and its terrorist proxies are continuing to target Israel. Hezbollah continues its attacks in the north, forcing families to live under constant threat. But Israel is not only defending her people, she is standing on the front lines against terror that threatens us all. Even when the news crews leave the international fellowship of Christians and Jews, they remain. Every day they are on the ground providing life saving aid. Now, near Israel's border with Lebanon, a Hezbollah drone recently struck the home of Yelena. Widowed earlier this year and living alone, she was trapped inside by the blast. Thankfully, she was not injured, but she remained displaced. It's hard these days, she says, but I don't want to leave. Well, as Christians we are called to stand with God's people and pray for those defending Israel, protecting the freedoms we hold dear. I want you to join the international fellowship of Christians and Jews in praying for the peace of Jerusalem and for the soldiers, families and civilians carrying the burden of this fight right now. Visit prayifcj.org that's Pray IFCJ. Now on to story number two. That's incredible. You went. So you went from that back to D.C. straight to the Oval Monday morning for a very interesting meeting on AI at the White House. Talk about that a little bit.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah, so. So I took Amtrak again, came from Manhattan down to D.C. on Monday, and then I had a meeting at the Oval Monday.

[Ben Ferguson]

By the way, that is what we call welcome back to your real life. When you go from the World Cup Drew Barrymore to Amtrak to D.C. i just. That's a, that's an interesting step down really quick. And that's probably God on purpose doing that, but keep going.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Look, look, it was. And so the meeting in the Oval, I was with the President, I was with Marsha Blackburn, Senator from Tennessee, and I was with Scott Bessant, the Treasury Secretary, and Kevin Hassett, the head of the National Economic Council, and several other members of the White House staff. And we were talking about AI, artificial intelligence. And, and it was a discussion about what to do about it. And listen, Marcia has a package of bills that she's pitching. And it's a package of bills, it's kids safety bills, it's requiring app stores to, to verify ages. It's a bill called no Fakes, which, which deals with preventing people from, from pirating and copying. Copying people's voices and images. And so she was pitching to the President, you should support my package of bills. And I'm chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce Science Transportation, which has jurisdiction over a ton of stuff, including AI and so we're going to have a markup in the next couple of weeks on a bunch of AI bills. And Marcia wants her bill to be one of them. And so she laid it out, and I got to say, a lot of discussion. She's pushing the President back my bill. Back my bill. Back my bill. And I stayed quiet for much of the meeting. The meeting was like hour, hour and a half long. And then I said at the end, I said, listen, if Marcia introduces the bill, I'll mark it up, I'll put it up on the committee for a vote. And I said, I expect I'll support it. I'll be honest, I'd never read the bill until she handed it to me. So she handed me a hundred page bill and I didn't know what was in it, but I said, look, from what she's described in it, I anticipate, I'll support it. But I also said it was kind of near the end of the meeting, but I said, because they had handed the President a truth social post supporting the bill. And I said, look, someone needs to tell you this bill has very little, if any chance of passing. And like, Trump was surprised. And I just said, look, there are different elements of it right now. There are no Democrats backing this bill. It's not clear that every Republican on the committee will back the bill. Maybe they will. They might. And I said, let me be clear, I'll mark it up and I expect to vote for it. So I'm not the opposition here, but I just want you to know that at this point, there's opposition from Democrats in the Senate, there's opposition potentially from some Republicans in the Senate, and there's strong opposition on aspects of the bill from Republican leadership in the House. And so I just said, I don't want you to be surprised. You lean in and say, let's go pass this bill, and then it doesn't pass. And so Trump said, all right, well, then I'm not going to support it. I don't want to support something that doesn't have a path to passage. And so we're going to mark up a series of bills. I've told Marcia if she wants me to mark up her bill, we will. I don't know if she will ask for it or not.

[Ben Ferguson]

Can I ask a politics question on this? How much of her bill is her pushing? Because she's running for governor and really trying to get Tennessee's hands on a lot of AI and AI infrastructure and AI in the state. Not blame you for that, but, like, is that part of this hardcore push where you're in the Senate, you're going, I understand both sides of this or am I reading the room wrong?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

So listen, there are different components of it. So let's take the different elements of the bill. The first bill is cosa, and COSA is a kid safety bill. It's a good bill. I have supported it. I voted for it in the last Congress. It passed the Senate 93 to 3. So I'm all for Cosa. I'm a yes, I want it to pass. Here's the problem. After it passed the Senate 93, 3, it went to the House and the House refused to take it up.

[Ben Ferguson]

Why?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Because. Because the speaker of the House and Steve Scalise, the majority leader, opposed the bill. And the bill puts what's called a duty of care on the tech companies that, that, that if there's content that harms kids, they can be Sued, and the House leadership doesn't support that. And so, look, frankly, what I told Marsha a year and a half ago is I said, listen, I'll back COSA again. We can pass it again. I'm fine with that. But it will never become law until you sit down with Johnson and Scalise and work out an agreement. Because if they refuse to take up the bill, you want to pass it again, we can do it.

[Ben Ferguson]

You'll get 100 and nothing. It doesn't matter if they're not going to take it up.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

If the House won't take it up, it's not going to become in the US Code. And so I said, what you need to do is sit down and negotiate a compromise, and it won't be everything you want, but you need to find something the House is willing to pass that hasn't happened. So that's a real impediment. I'm going to vote for cosa. I want COSA to pass. But right now, the House is not going to take it up. There's a second component which is called the App Store accountability app, which is putting liability on an app store for age verification. Now, there are a couple of problems with that. Number one, there, there are tech companies like, like Meta, like, like Facebook that support it, but Apple and Google hate it because they're the app stores and they're like, wait, you're making me liable. So Apple and Google don't like it. And so they're both. The tech companies are divided. They're lobbying on both sides. And there's a competing bill that is called the parents over platforms bill, which is frankly the Apple and Google bill. And there are several Republicans on the committee that support that bill. And so I said, look, this is just a pissing match between giant tech companies. I'd like to see age verification. I support age verification. I'm pushing for it. But every Democrat opposes age verification. So I said, listen, it's a simple math. If you lose all the Democrats.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And if you're losing some Republicans, I don't see how this passes. Like, it's just a math. Like, like I'm not opposed to it. I, I, I will vote yes. But how do you get to the votes to pass it? There is additionally her bill, no fakes. Now, no fakes. I'm on the Judiciary Committee. Judiciary Committee has already passed no fakes. It was a voice vote. I was fine with it. No fakes has a lot of good elements to it. So no fakes is protecting, say you have a Musician. And someone uses AI to create a fake song for a musician and makes you liable for that in politics. By the way, this is coming. It hasn't really happened yet, but it's coming soon. You're going to see someone create AI and take a video of a politician, a fake video, and be like, we should eat live kittens. And it's going to be. You're not going to be able to tell that it's fake. Like. Like it's going to appear to be.

[Ben Ferguson]

The real problem has to respond to a ridiculous, absurd video. Right.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And by the way, Amy Klobuchar last year had a video of a hearing where she said a bunch of things that were derogatory that she would never have said, but it looked entirely real, and she had to respond to that. That's gonna explode a lot. So finding some protections to say, look, someone can't use your name, image and likeness and create a counterfeit that nobody knows is fake. I'm quite supportive of that. When the judiciary passed this bill, there were several Republicans, Mike Lee, Eric Schmidt, and myself, who raised free speech concerns because the way the language is written is quite broad. So, for example, Trump send out the meme of Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer wearing sombreros singing, yes, now, that was parody. It wasn't real. And I've retweeted it and amplified it. But there is an argument that under the language of no fakes, that could be banned. Now, there is some language saying bonafide satire is okay, but there's a lot of gray area. You think of Spencer Pratt and the hysterical ads he put out with Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass just, like, doing horrible things to people of California. I have a concern that under the language and no fakes, the tech platforms would take down those ads because they'd say, you're using Gavin Newsom's image in a way that he has not approved. And so my point was, look, I'd love to see this get done, but I also want to protect free speech. So my point to the President was, hey, if you want to endorse this, great. I've got no problem with it. But you need to know that I don't see a path that this actually gets to pass in the Senate, takes 60 votes. Given that, I don't know of a single Democrat supporting this bill, and there may be Republicans opposing this bill, the math doesn't work. And so the President decided not. Not to support it. Listen, I still expect that we will take up in the next couple of weeks, a series of AI bills. And by the way, we will do a podcast when we do that markup where we talk about the AI bills we pass. But what I'm trying to do right now is find all right, let me use a Kamala Harris phrase, the Venn diagram. That is the intersection of what bills could make a positive impact protecting people from some of the harms of AI, but at the same time that have a real path to passage. And so we'll move several bills on that. But I'm trying to find exactly the right intersection right there. And so we had that conversation and the President agreed with me.

[Ben Ferguson]

As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back and download the podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing.

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[Senator Ted Cruz]

What?

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[Cancer Patient]

You just lost them for the rest of the afternoon.

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[Senator Ted Cruz]

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[Ben Ferguson]

The headlines they move on. But the heartache and the terror they do not. Iran and its terrorist proxies are continuing to target Israel. Hezbollah continues its attacks in the north, forcing families to live under constant threat. But Israel is not only defending her people, she is standing on the front lines against terror that threatens us all. Even when the news crews leave the international fellowship of Christians and Jews, they remain. Every day they are on the ground providing life saving aid. Now, near Israel's border with Lebanon, a Hezbollah drone recently struck the home of Yelena. Widowed earlier this year and living alone, she was trapped inside by the blast. Thankfully, she was not injured, but she remained displaced. It's hard these days, she says. But I don't want to leave. Well, as Christians we are called to stand with God's people and pray for those defending Israel, protecting the freedoms we hold dear. I want you to join the international fellowship of Christians and Jews in praying for the peace of Jerusalem and for the soldiers, families and civilians carrying the burden of this fight right now. Visit prayifcj.org that's pray IFCJ.

[Cancer Patient]

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[Ben Ferguson]

want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed. Senator, I want to move to this education bill that is so important that you have been working on. Explain what this bill is, why it's important right now, and why Americans should be paying attention to it.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah, look, you talked a minute ago about how one of the reasons why we're having young people, particularly young people who stay in the education system for a long time, get so radicalized, so left wing, so America hating, so capitalism hating, so communism embracing, is because our education system is broken. And that's certainly true at the university level, particularly the so called elite universities. But it is also true in K through 12. And one consequence of K through 12 getting radicalized is that it drives the politics crazy left. But another consequence is they failed in their basic job of teaching. And, and you know, you used to go and learn the three Rs, reading, writing and arithmetic. And I mean, that used to be like the core of what you were learning.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah. If you look at a novel idea, by the way, what a novel idea you go to, you go to school to learn to read, writing to arithmetic. Like, isn't that amazing that someone came up with that curriculum one day and then we just decide to abandon it? Right.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well. And there is a literacy crisis. The numbers of students coming out of school who can't read, who don't have the ability to read, is staggering. I'm gonna give you some of the stats. So in 2024, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, what's called the NAEP, the reading assessment, showed that 33% of eighth graders are reading at a level that is, quote, below basic.33%. A third of eighth graders can't read at even the barest minimum of levels. For 12th graders, the average reading scores were 3 points lower than in 2019 and 10 points lower than in 1992. So it is a staggering crisis. And one of the big reasons for that is that you've had left wing radicals take over teachers, colleges, education programs, the teachers unions, and they've moved away from what actually works. They've adopted an approach to reading that is called three cueing. So three cueing is something that uses context and pictures and sentence structures rather than phonics. Look, when I learned to read, we learned phonics. We would diagram sentences. Phonics works. And you know what? We now know three queuing does not. It's a disaster and it's produced terrible results. So a number of states, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin have all banned teaching 3QE because the data are terrible. It fails to teach kids to read. What is amazing though, is a number of schools instead have focused on what's called the science of reading, which is going back to phonics, going back to the basics of teaching reading. And the results have been staggering. And there's something called, all right, you're an Ole Miss grad. You're going to like this. There's something called the Mississippi miracle.

[Ben Ferguson]

So love this already. Keep, keep, keep singing this song. I'm ready.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

In 2013, Mississippi's reading numbers were not good. Mississippi was 49th in the nation.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

On the national assessments and reading they began then going in on the science of reading and vigorously teaching phonics. And Mississippi has risen from 49 in the country to a top 10 state in the country. Fourth grade reading achievement. By the way, it wasn't money that did it. It was actually teaching what works. Alabama, by the way, did the same thing. They moved from 49th to 34th. Louisiana, Louisiana moved from 49th to 32nd. And here's what the New York Times said. You're gonna like this. The New York Times said in 2019, blue states had better average test scores than red states after adjusting for demographics. Now red states are mostly ahead. That's the New York Times. And so what happened on this legislation is I introduced legislation this week that takes the existing federal grants that go to education. There's a pretty big funding stream from the federal government to states for education and the reading funds. The legislation I introduced said if you want to get those reading funds, you have to use the reading methods that, that are demonstrated empirically to work you, you have to have what actually works and what the data shows work. You can't teach this garbage that results in kids not learning. You've got to use the empirically successful methods. And what's interesting, by the way, who's against this bill?

[Ben Ferguson]

Because if you have the data you just mentioned, there's showing where this is working, you would think this would be bipartisan.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

So it actually is. So I introduced this bill with Brian Schatz. Brian Schatz is a Democrat. He's from Hawaii. Interestingly enough, Brian is widely considered the next Democrat leader in the Senate. He's widely considered the most likely successor to Chuck Schumer. Interesting. And Brian, I know, well, he's a friend of mine. He's on the Commerce Committee with me. I'm the chairman of the Commerce Committee. He and I have done a number of bills together. And look, when you talk with Brian, he's a Democrat, so he can be left wing on a lot of issues, but one on one, he can be quite reasonable. As you know, I play hoops every week. Brian's come out several times and played hoops with me. I mean, he's. And I'm gonna say something that's gonna surprise you. This bill was his idea.

[Ben Ferguson]

Really.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

He came to me.

[Ben Ferguson]

That's awesome.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

He came to me on the Senate floor and he said, ted, have you seen the data from Mississippi and the Mississippi Miracle and the incredible reading scores that are coming out of Mississippi? And by the way, this doesn't happen often. Democrats don't praise red states that often. And I said, yeah, I have. It's fantastic. And he said, what do you think about us joining together to draft legislation that would require, if you're going to get the federal funds that are going for literacy, you've got to teach using the reading methods that the data show actually produce results. And I said, I think that'd be fantastic. I'm a huge fan of phonics. I don't like these WOKE teaching methods that are just a failure and a disaster. And it's interesting, my team, I went to them and I said, hey, you know, shots pitch doing this. And my team was skeptical. They said, we don't really believe a Democrat's gonna go along with something that is praising what's working in red states. And by the way, implicitly criticizing the WOKE education policies in many blue states. To Brian's credit. Look, I mean, we introduced it together. You asked who opposes it? I will confess it's early enough now that I don't want to give you an answer to that. My assumption is the teachers unions will oppose it. My assumption is some of the blue states will oppose it. And the sort of WOKE Educrats, the people who are teaching at the education schools, who are teaching teachers who are teaching this nonsense that doesn't work. I assume all those guys will oppose it. But. But I'll say this, we just introduced it. I'm going to try to see if we can move it forward and maybe we get support for it. I hope we do.

[Ben Ferguson]

By the way, what do you need when you say move it forward so people understand, and this is one of the reasons why I love doing the show. When you say you're hoping you get the support, what is moving it forward actually look like in the legislature?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

So look, you dropped the bill initially. The next step that we'll work on doing is trying to get other supporters, trying to get other co sponsors. So, so I'll reach out to other Republicans and other Democrats. Brian will reach out to other Democrats and also Republicans. I'd like to get a pretty good group of bipartisan co sponsors. And there are a number of Democrats that I've worked with on different bills who, and particularly given that it's Brian and me, I think we can get other senators to co sponsor it. So let's say we get a half dozen Rs and a half dozen Ds. That starts to be a bill that's got some real heft to it because you look, particularly if you've got some ideological diversity, the bill would go to committee at first. I assume this would go to what's called the HELP Committee, which is the Health, Education, labor and Pensions Committee. So the first step is to get the committee to mark it up. We'll work to get more sponsors to get a bigger coalition behind it. And then I'll go to the chairman of that committee, that's Bill Cassidy, and ask him to mark it up, which is for the committee to take it up and pass it. And we've got, if we've got a good enough coalition behind it, we've got a real chance at that once it gets out of committee. There are a couple of paths you can take to passing it. One path is to try to pass it by unanimous consent. Now, I've passed a lot by unanimous consent. If you do the work and build the coalition, you can get things done that way, but a single senator can object. So I don't know right now if this is possible. You may have an Elizabeth Warren or someone in the far left who objects to this. The other way to pass it is to attach it to another vehicle that that is moving another bill that is being passed to put it on that. And so we've got some time to get there. We've got to build the coalition. We got to get it out of committee. We've got to get it teed up where it's in a position to then try to pass it. And then when you get out of the Senate, then you try to pass it in the House. And I'm confident the president would sign it. So we are early in that process. But I'm encouraged to see that we're able to get a Democrat and Republican working together saying, look, we really ought to teach our kids to read.

[Ben Ferguson]

It should be 100 to 1, in my opinion. Teaching kids to read. That shouldn't be a problem.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And it might be.

[Ben Ferguson]

As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. Don't forget to download my podcast and you can listen to my podcast every other day. You're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards. I'd love to have you as a listener to again, the Ben Ferguson Podcast. And we will see you back here on Monday morning.

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[Cancer Patient]

No idea. Last week it was dinosaurs.

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[Senator Ted Cruz]

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[Cancer Patient]

I need to be healthy every day to survive it and go through the next chemo round and the next chemo round. So it's important that work was part of that to keep my mind busy for eight, nine hours. And then I had to go back and face the reality. I had a goal and the goal is to survive.

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[Senator Ted Cruz]

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