← Verdict with Ted Cruz
Verdict with Ted Cruz
Christ is Born, America is Working: Christmas Hope, Jobs Booming & Welfare Fraud Exposed
00:35:15
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Senator Ted Cruz
This is where mindset comes in.
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Senator Ted Cruz
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- [03:00]
Co-host/Interviewer
Welcome. It is Vertica Center Ted Cruz. It is nice to have you with us. Also, if you're listening to the show on radio as you're traveling back probably from Christmas, welcome. It is really nice to have you with us as well. Senator. We've got a lot to talk about during this Christmas week and some of it is really good news. It deals with the economy. That is something that has made a lot of people excited about going into 2026.
- [03:25]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, there's a lot good going on, but I want to start by just saying Merry Christmas. And I hope that at Christmas time you're spending time with your family. I hope you're taking time to hug your kids. I hope you're taking time. I hope you're having some fabulous meals where you're stuffed. You have some great presents, you have some great love. But I also want to encourage everyone, remember what Christmas time is about. Christmas time, yes, it's about family. Yes, it's about coming together. But Christmas is when we're celebrating the birth of Jesus, the birth of our Savior who came, God incarnate, came to earth to live as a man, to live without sin and then to die willingly, voluntarily, freely, to die for your sins and my sins. I don't know about you, Ben, but Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love Christmas. I love the music, I love everything about it. And I love celebrating the incredible mystery and marvel that God cared so much about each of us that he was willing to send his only son to die for us. Yeah.
- [04:33]
Co-host/Interviewer
Amen. Amen to that. I think it's really been sad over the last several years how much people tried to just get rid of the meaning of Christmas. I also feel like we're seeing part of that bell curve come back around. I was really encouraged Sunday at church to see so many people coming not on Christmas service, but the week of Christmas. And there just seems to be a new awakening. I saw some really cool data the other day that there are more people under the age of 40. We had record breaking number of people that bought Bibles in 2025. Some of that they actually think is because of Charlie Kirk's assassination. And his bold faith and evil. There always is good that can come out of evil. But to hear that we are having record sales of Bibles this year, that gave me such encouragement. Especially, you've got kids like I do. I worry about the future of this country. It's why we do this show. We fight for this country. We fight for our rights. We fight for our religious freed. And to see that there seems to be this real awakening among this younger generation that really inspires me, and it makes me even more excited about Christmas.
- [05:41]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, and listen, I will say there are a lot of folks who listen to this show who are parents. You may be a young parent. You may have young kids at home. I'll tell you what my parents did every Christmas for me and what I try to do with our girls is when we sit down for Christmas dinner, by the way, in a Cuban household, typically, we'll have a Cuban celebration on Christmas Eve, and then we tend to have an American Christmas on Christmas day. So hold on.
- [06:06]
Co-host/Interviewer
I got to know. What is the difference? What's the difference between how rowdy is Christmas Eve? Because that sounds like it's kind of fun.
- [06:13]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah. So look, when I'm with the Cuban side of my family, like, the tradition is that we'll roast a whole pig, and that's on Noche Buena. That's a great tradition. This year, I was with Heidi's side of the family, so we had a Christmas Eve dinner, but. But actually, her family are all vegetarians. And so what we do instead is.
- [06:33]
Co-host/Interviewer
That would be bad for the whole pig. That would be bad.
- [06:35]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah. The whole. The whole pig idea doesn't work. And so instead. Instead we have fondue, which is nice. We, like. We like, make up fondue on the stove, and all of us like fondue and dipping it in. And then we do on Christmas Day, typically, either a turkey or a ham for the carnivores there, and lots of vegetarian options for Heidi's family. But one thing that I've tried to do every year is when we're sitting down on Christmas day just to read from Luke, chapter two, and to read the story of Christmas. And so if y' all will indulge, I want to do that right now.
- [07:10]
Co-host/Interviewer
Love it. Go for it.
- [07:11]
Senator Ted Cruz
And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria, and all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because it was of the house and lineage of David to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them. And the glory of the Lord shone round and about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace and goodwill toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into the heaven, the shepherd said one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning the child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them. And, you know, that's obviously the story of the birth of Jesus. And every year we take our kids to go to the Christmas show. And they do all sorts of great Christmas shows. This Christmas show this year they emphasize shepherds in particular, shepherds out caring for the sheep and talking about how the shepherds would look for the unblemished sheep, for the pure, pure baby sheep, and set that sheep aside, and they would wrap that baby sheep in swaddling clothes. And that was to signify that this sheep was being set aside to be used as a sacrifice at the temple and swaddling clothes. Everything about Jesus birth from literally the moment he was born, he was wrapped in the same wrapping that a lamb would be wrapped in or a sheep would be wrapped in to show that they were. He was the lamb. He was the sacrifice. He was born to be sacrificed for our sins. And that's such an important. Christmas makes no sense without Easter. Christmas and Easter are bookends of the life of Jesus. And the life of Jesus is willingly coming to earth as a man and then willingly giving his life even though he had not sinned. He did not deserve death. I deserve death. You deserve death. All of us are fallen creatures. And so the Christmas time, I would just say to the parents, take some time, read that passage, read other passages and just talk with your kids about what it means. Because it is at the end of the day, it's not about a fat man in a sleigh. It's not about presents, it's not about all the food. And the rest, Christmas time is celebrating the birth of Jesus. Christmas. And I just want to tell everyone, Merry Christmas.
- [11:26]
Co-host/Interviewer
Amen to that. Merry Christmas. And I love that you read that. And I would encourage others for people that maybe miss it. What passage again was that? So they make sure they've got it.
- [11:35]
Senator Ted Cruz
That's Luke chapter two. And it's basically the first half of chapter two tells the version appears several times in the Gospels. But I like Luke chapter two to be very concise.
- [11:45]
Co-host/Interviewer
Senator, There was a Christmas gift that was given to all Americans. It didn't matter if you were rich or poor. It didn't matter if you were black or white or Hispanic or anything else in between. We got some new economic data and it was, I tell you what, if there's anybody that had coal in their stocking, it was the media. There was an article that came out by the New York Times predicting the complete opposite of what GDP report showed. Of course they're not going to retract it, but they do look like idiots. And again, you got to ask yourself this question, are they really willing and wanting to hurt Americans? They want Americans to suffer just so Donald Trump looks bad because that's what their reporting seems to look like.
- [12:23]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, listen, the news that broke just this week is the economy is booming. That the latest GDP numbers show 4.3% GDP growth, which is terrific GDP growth. And let me read from the Wall Street Journal. Consumers power strongest U.S. economic growth in two years. A long delayed government report shows third quarter GDP grew at an annual 4.3% rate. Robust spending by U.S. consumers drove greater than expected economic expansion in the third quarter. And the strongest growth rate in two years. Gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced across the economy, rose at a seasonally and inflationally adjusted 4.3% annual rate from July through September, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. The report was delayed nearly two months by the government shutdown and looks back at the period before the shutdown was in effect. It does, however, offer a snapshot of an economy that has managed to keep humming along for much of the year. Growth picked up from 3.8% in the previous corner and easily beat the 3.2% forecast among economists polled by the Wall Street Journal.
- [13:38]
Co-host/Interviewer
That's big, by the way.
- [13:40]
Senator Ted Cruz
It's over a point higher than expectations. That's a big deal. As the Journal said, it was the strongest expansion since the third quarter of 2023. Rising consumer spending was partly driven by health care, including outpatient services and at hospitals and nursing homes. International travel, legal services and spending on products like personal computers and software also contributed. Artificial intelligence related spending helped, too, though the pace of growth appeared to cool from the second quarter. Overall business investment growth slowed to 2.8% in the third quarter from 7.3% in the prior three months. This is great news. And, and, and listen, when GDP is booming, what that means is it means there's more jobs, it means there's more, more productivity. It means the stock market is going up, it means people 401ks are going up, it means wages are likely to rise. And so, so GDP growth, it's not always immediate. Are, are there still people struggling? Yes, but GDP growth is driven. And I'll tell you, one of the things we're seeing is the Christmas spending numbers are very, very strong. And so that's one of the signs of consumer confidence that, you know, if you're worried, if you're scared about not being able to pay your rent or your mortgage, then you don't necessarily go out and do some big shopping for Christmas time.
- [15:01]
Co-host/Interviewer
We saw the record breaking numbers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and that was as the Democrats were saying that we were in a tailspin and this was a disaster of an economy and they were trying to say Donald Trump is ruin your Christmas. I'm like, well, the data says that people, as you just mentioned, they're going out and spinning at record numbers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. So that tells me that someone's lying.
- [15:24]
Senator Ted Cruz
That's exactly right. And here I want to show you. You talked about the press being dismayed and I got to say that the corporate media is utterly corrupt. They are dishonest. I just want to read to you two tweets. The first tweet is from October 30, 2024. Now, now what was happening right after October 30, 2024?
- [15:45]
Co-host/Interviewer
The election. Presidential.
- [15:47]
Senator Ted Cruz
There was a presidential election. And who was president in October 2024, at least nominally?
- [15:51]
Co-host/Interviewer
Well, the auto, the auto pen. But if you want an actual person with a heartbeat, we'll go with Joe Biden.
- [15:56]
Senator Ted Cruz
Okay, so here's what, what ABC News tweeted. Tweeted October 30, 2024, one week before the presidential election, just in. The US economy grew at a robust 2.8% annualized rate in the third quarter, slowing slightly from the previous quarter, but continuing to dispel any concern about a possible shutdown. This report comes just ahead of the presidential election. All right, so that was a year ago now. That was 2.8%. What do you think ABC News said about 4.3%. What was it just in. The U.S. economy expanded more than economists expected over a recent three month period, recording robust growth despite concerns about sluggish hiring and cash strapped shoppers. Federal government data showed. So 2.8% is robust and fantastic and yay, 4.3%. Well, we're really worried about sluggish hiring and cash strapped shoppers. And yeah, okay, I guess it is like, like almost twice as high. But, but dammit, we don't like those numbers. I mean, that is not news. And I literally, whoever wrote that tweet should be fired. Like, if ABC pretended to be a journalist, you'd say, okay, go work for the DNC because you want to be a partisan parrot. That's who they are and it's why people don't trust the news. Now I want you to listen to Kevin Hassett. Kevin Hassett is the head of the National Economic Council in the White House. Listen to Kevin talking about these recent GDP numbers.
- [17:32]
News Reporter
You know, it's a fantastic report, 4.3%. That's just about as good as GDP numbers get. And especially coming, you know, on the heels of the CPI report, Consumer Price Index report we got, which you actually showed some interesting data that, consistent with this, showed that core inflation is all the way down to 1.6%. And so I think that these numbers are showing that President Trump's trade policy and his supply side policy, which is really increasing factory production and so on, is having a big, big effect, as is his trade policy. So if we abstract from the reduction of the trade deficit, then the 4.3% number would only be 2.6%. So Trump's trade policy is really working as well.
- [18:15]
Co-host/Interviewer
You notice they mentioned trade policy because that was one of the other big lies this year in 2025, which is the shelves are going to be empty at Christmas. The toys you wanted for your kids were going to be not on those shelves. You're not going to be able to afford basic things. Half of the store is going to be gone. At Walmart and Target and Costco and Sam's Club. None of that happened. And they said there was going to be massive spikes in prices for everything that you couldn't afford. Again, that didn't happen either. While we collected record number of tariffs and cash, the President's trade deals seem to actually be working and the leverage seems to be working. And they don't want to admit that this has not been a disaster.
- [18:52]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, listen, there's still some volatility when it comes to trade policy. And as you know, I'd been advocating that the President uses trade policy as leverage to open up foreign markets. And he's been doing that. That has been very, very successful. This also underscores basic supply side principles that when you cut taxes, as we did, and when you repeal job killing regulations, as President Trump is doing, it results in more investments, more jobs, and the economy's booming. This is basic cause and effect.
- [19:21]
Co-host/Interviewer
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- [20:24]
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Toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points. You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract for $250,000.
- [20:41]
Senator Ted Cruz
This is where mindset comes in.
- [20:42]
Fitness Show Promoter
Someone will be eliminated.
- [20:45]
Podcast Announcer
Pressure is coming down.
- [20:47]
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Trainer games on Prime Video January 8th.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Watch the trailer on trainergames.com Season 2.
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- [22:47]
Co-host/Interviewer
Senator. There's another big story that I want to get to and that is the out of control fraud. We have now got a number and it could go higher. At least 9 billion was looted from the Minnesota Medicaid program's plus there was welfare fraud as well. In a bombshell report coming from the Wall Street Journal, this does not look good for the Governor there and a lot of mayors have now sent him a letter saying we are in trouble and it's your fault.
- [23:13]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, the level of fraud we're seeing welfare Medicaid fraud in Minnesota is staggering. It is an order of magnitude greater than we've seen. And here are the basic facts. Federal prosecutors alleged Thursday that Minnesota may have lost billions of dollars to fraud in its Medicaid program, the latest development in an ongoing investigation. As much as half, half, 50% of the roughly $18 billion Minnesota has spent since 2018 on 14 Medicaid programs particularly vulnerable to abuse may have been siphoned off by fraudsters, According to Assistant U.S. assistant Attorney Joe Thompson. Thompson made the remarks as prosecutors announced additional charges in the ongoing investigation of the staggering industrial scale fraud engulfing the state. Quote, the fraud is not small. It isn't isolated. The magnitude cannot be overstated. What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It's a staggering industrial scale fraud. It's swamping Minnesota and calling into question everything we know about our state. The level of it, half of Medicaid for years, that's in Minnesota. By the way. If you, if you watch the corporate media, you've seen very little about this. They don't want to cover this at all because it is, it is the complicity of the Democrats in office. And understand Minnesota is a one party state. It is governed by Democrats. Democrats are in charge. They looked the other way. Why did they look the other way? Well, much of this fraud was carried out by Somalis. We covered in a previous verdict how the single largest contributor to Al Shabaab. Al Shabaab is a radical Islamist terrorist organization in Somalia. The single largest contributor to Al Shabaab are the Minnesota taxpayers. That's the level of the theft that went on. And Democrats elected Democrats in Minnesota. They happily look the other way. Why? Because they were buying votes. And you know what? If they actually watched the taxpayer dollars and didn't let the criminal steal it, well, somebody might be upset if they, if they had even the tiniest modicum of scrutiny. It is shocking.
- [25:39]
Co-host/Interviewer
Well, and you know, you mentioned a moment ago and that is that the media has not been touching this. Luckily local media has. Cbs, for example. Locally in Minnesota, they did a report on this that was just kind of throwing their hands up in the air like this is so egregious. We need you to know the national media, completely silent, no accountability for the governor there or those in leadership under him. I want to play this for people. This is again the local CBS affiliate. They're talking about the fraud crisis. Take a listen. Minnesota's fraud crisis is growing.
- [26:13]
Senator Ted Cruz
Today.
- [26:13]
News Reporter
Prosecutors charge more people for billing the.
- [26:16]
Senator Ted Cruz
State for social services.
- [26:17]
News Reporter
They did not provide the federal Prosecutor says it's possible half or more of the $18 billion billed to 14 programs since 2018 is fraudulent.
- [26:27]
Co-host/Interviewer
We have team coverage starting with Jonah.
- [26:29]
Local CBS Reporter
Kaplan with more on what we've learned.
- [26:31]
News Reporter
About these latest charges.
- [26:32]
Co-host/Interviewer
Jonah?
- [26:33]
Senator Ted Cruz
So we've gone from maybe a billion.
- [26:34]
News Reporter
Dollars to possibly 9 billion or more.
- [26:37]
CBS News Correspondent
Well, we've heard from the new U.S. attorney, Frank, that we're not even at the end of the beginning of this investigation. And now we know why. Feeding our future was just the tip of the iceberg.
- [26:48]
News Reporter
The fraud is not small. It isn't isolated. The magnitude cannot be overstated.
- [26:54]
CBS News Correspondent
Prosecutors on Thursday indicting six people, including one already charged in another case. The five new defendants are all accused of defrauding a state program meant to provide housing assistance to the disabled and those dealing with addiction. Two people charged aren't even from here. According to officials, Anthony Jefferson and Lester Brown came from Philadelphia to Minnesota looking for an opportunity to make money. They set up two fake companies and collected $3.5 million.
- [27:22]
News Reporter
This is an instance of what's essentially fraud tourism. Mr. Jefferson and Brown were residents of Philadelphia who had no connection to Minnesota except for they heard that Minnesota and its Housing Stabilization Services program was easy money.
- [27:38]
CBS News Correspondent
The state already cut off the Housing Stabilization Program because of suspected fraud, but it's one of 14 social programs now under federal investigation. Together they billed $18 billion since 2018. We asked how much could have been fraud.
- [27:52]
News Reporter
You know, I don't make these generalizations in a hasty way, so when I say significant amount, I'm talking in the order of half or more.
- [28:00]
CBS News Correspondent
But we'll see. One of the new indictments accuses a fraudster of exploiting a program to help children with autism. Court documents say Abdi Najib Hassan Yousef used some of the 6 million bucks he stole to buy a Freightliner semi truck. Governor Walz in a statement said he applauds the new indictment, saying, quote, this is exactly the type of strong action we need from prosecutors to ensure fraudsters are put behind bars. Frank, this is not going away anytime soon.
- [28:27]
Co-host/Interviewer
I love the end there. Frank, this is not going away anytime soon. Well, if Democrats have their way and the governor, this will just be like a one time report and then we just move on. And hey, if it goes from 9 billion to 12 billion or 15 billion, who knows where the number could end? And that was what they were referring to there at CBS Local. They're like, hey, we went from 1 billion to 9 billion and that may not be the final number.
- [28:50]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, and Tim Waltz says he Applauds the indictments. Well, my question is, where was Tim Waltz? Where was the governor? He was like, where's Waldo? He was popping up everywhere he could. He was following Kamala Harris on the campaign trail, but he was not actually doing his job as governor. And listen, there is a political reason. And Ben, I'm gonna make a prediction right now.
- [29:11]
Co-host/Interviewer
I love it when you do this because usually you're right. So pay attention to everyone.
- [29:15]
Senator Ted Cruz
As horrific as this fraud is in Minnesota, and it is staggering, it is historically bad, I'm going to make a prediction that it is worse that there is even more fraud in New York, California and Illinois.
- [29:32]
Co-host/Interviewer
So you don't believe this is an isolated incident to there follow the money?
- [29:36]
Senator Ted Cruz
I do not. I think in bright blue states where the Democrats control all of the levers of government, all of the machinery, I think the same incentives that caused the Democrat politicians in Minnesota to try to buy votes by allowing people to rob the taxpayers blind, I think those exact same incentives are playing out in New York. I think those exact same incentives are playing out in Illinois, and I think those exact same incentives are playing out in California. So I'm calling on the Trump administration to audit. Audit every state, but start with the big blue states, because I think that is where you are most likely to find. Find the fraud, where the pattern is the same. And I gotta tell you, people like Gavin Newsom are sweating right now. They don't want anyone looking at the fraud in California because my. The incentives are identical. And I suspect you're going to see the very same pattern playing out over and over and over again.
- [30:36]
Co-host/Interviewer
You know, you mentioned they don't want you looking. There was a very interesting playbook. When Democrats get in trouble, they usually just start playing the race card, throwing down on the race card. Tim Waltz had a press conference and he was asked about the fraud in the Somali community, the money going back to the terrorist organization Al Shabaab and how much just total, pure corruption there was. And then he was asked about ICE raids in Minnesota. He's obviously against that. They are a welcoming state, as he describes it. They're a sanctuary state. And what Tim Waltz had to say back, it really did kind of make me laugh because it's so predictable. And yet it's the classic playbook they've been using. You question them on anything, they get wrong. They're like, oh, well, you're racist, a bigot, homophobe, xenophobe. The list goes on and on. Well, now it's white supremacy. If you actually enforce the law of the land with illegal immigrants in a state. Here's how he put it. Tim Waltz in Minnesota.
- [31:28]
Local CBS Reporter
So this is what happens when your own federal government wages war against you. This is what happens when they target communities for their own benefit. This is what happens when they scapegoat. And this is what say happens when they no longer hide the idea of white supremacy. When you hear the Vice President, United States, talk about now white people won't have to apologize for being white. That's never happened once in my whole damn life. And I think everybody in this room knows what they're doing. So we're here today to say enough of this. We're here today to stand that Minnesota will protect their neighbors.
- [31:59]
Co-host/Interviewer
Minnesota will protect their neighbors. And this is what happened.
- [32:03]
Senator Ted Cruz
And rob them blind.
- [32:04]
Co-host/Interviewer
Yeah, and rob them blind. Nine billion that we know of. Right. And he says we're not going to. We're no longer going to allow them to hide the idea of white supremacy. When you hear the vice president, this is the classic Democratic playbook. Don't look at what I'm doing. I'm going to yell, you're a racist.
- [32:20]
Senator Ted Cruz
Like he is literally overseeing the biggest recorded fraud in US Government history. Not just a fraud on the taxpayers, that defrauded the taxpayers of Minnesota, that defrauded the taxpayers of every state, federal taxpayers, but also that saw the federal tax dollars diverted to illegal immigrants, to Somalis who sent it to Al Shabaab, a radical Islamic terror organization. So it's fraud funding Islamist terror. And what is Tim Waltz's response to scream white supremacy. White supremacy. At some point, those talking points get a little tired. And it's a clear and transparent effort just to avoid any accountability and to be. Avoid being held responsible for what he allowed to happen.
- [33:13]
Co-host/Interviewer
All right, Senator, I want to move to another part of this story, and it's bigger than Minnesota. We were talking about the fraud there, but the Wall Street Journal came out with a very interesting report and I think it's worth us taking a moment to talk about it. It's the biggest fraud in welfare, and it just talks about how much abuse there is in the welfare system that's costing hundreds of billions of dollars to American taxpayers.
- [33:37]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, and in particular, what it talks about is bogus bookkeeping. That covers it up. And this is an op ed that was written by Phil Graham and John Early. Phil Graham was previously senator from the state of Texas. He's an economist. Phil is a good friend of mine. And it's an important op ed that he wrote Dec. 17 in the journal it's entitled the biggest fraud in Welfare. The government gives tens of thousands of dollars in benefits to the poor which it doesn't count as income. And so this is in some ways an accounting story. And please don't go to sleep right now, particularly if you're driving. Don't go to sleep. It is an accounting story that matters. So here's what Phil Graham wrote. Something is profoundly wrong with the US welfare system. A problem that runs far deeper and is more dangerous than the shocking fraud in Minnesota that has been making headlines across the past half century. America has seen what in any other country would be considered a golden age in which lower income households have made incredible progress despite the end of our post war economic dominance around 1975. The country's real per capita gross domestic product grew by 142% from 1974 to 2024. More than 2/3 of U.S. households have inflation adjusted incomes today. That would have put them in the top 1/5 of households in 1967. So used to be the top 1/5 of households In 1967. Today more than 2/3 of U.S. u.S. Households have inflation that would put them there. 62% of all children who grew up in the poorest fifth of all households in the 70s and 80s worked their way up to a higher income bracket as adults. Some all the way up to the top quintile. Yet even as our economy has experienced broad based growth, real federal welfare spending has soared by what do you think the number is? I'm going to guess 70%, 765% more than twice as fast as total federal spending and now costs $1.4 trillion annually.
- [35:49]
Co-host/Interviewer
Incredible.
- [35:50]
Senator Ted Cruz
Were that were that money simply to be doled out Evenly to the 19.8 million families the government defines as poor. Each household. How much you think each household would receive a year if you just took all the welfare payments and sent a check to each household directly?
- [36:07]
Co-host/Interviewer
Yeah, yeah. I mean I'm going to guess in the thousands.
- [36:12]
Senator Ted Cruz
More than $70,000 a year.
- [36:17]
Co-host/Interviewer
I mean tell me that's not a perfect example of government waste when you could just send direct checks of 70 grand a year to people.
- [36:25]
Senator Ted Cruz
The source of this dramatic mismatch is a fraud built into how various programs determine welfare eligibility. The government doesn't count any refundable tax credits or benefits that aren't paid in cash as income to the recipients. Some claim this is appropriate because the beneficiaries aren't free to spend non cash benefits on whatever they like. But that is a specious argument because money is fungible. Receiving Medicaid, for example, frees up cash that would otherwise be spent on health care, allowing the recipients to spend the newly freed cash on other things. Non cash benefits aren't in the end that different from income, except that salaries are taxed while government benefits aren't. And if individual welfare programs often don't even count benefits paid in cash as income for the purposes of gauging eligibility, the government's failure to count its largesse as the recipient's income allows welfare households to blow past the income level above which a working family no longer qualifies for government health. Take a single parent with two school age children who earns $11,000 annually from part time work. The government considers this household in poverty because its income is below $25,273. Yeah, but this family would qualify for benefits worth $53,128. It would receive treasury checks of $3,400 in refundable tax credits and $4,400 in refundable earned income tax credits. Would also receive food stamp debit cards worth $9,216 a year, $9,476 in housing subsidies, $877 of government payments for utility bills, $16,033 to fund Medicaid, $3,102 in free meals at schools, and $6,624 in temporary assistance for Needy Families. All this puts the family's income at $64,128, or 254% of the poverty level. And look, the point Phil Graham goes on on this, but the point is when they're measuring income, they exclude all the welfare and benefits that are going down. And then they measure income and said, look how poor people are without counting the money that is going out, out the door. And by the way, this also contributes to the massive fraud we saw in Minnesota. Because the Democrats and the federal government and state government are just focusing on shoveling cash out the door and they're not focusing on how do you actually ensure any accountability. Or even more importantly, how do you get people off welfare. Look, one of my favorite phrases is that the social safety net should be a trampoline and not a hammock. And by that what it means is, listen, many people have get down on their luck, they need help. But the entire focus should be to get you back on your feet. The entire focus should be to spring you out of the safety net and get you where you're working, where you Have a job where you're providing for your own family. There's a dignity to work. You look at families that are trapped in generational poverty, one generation after another after another, and you lose the self respect. You know, one of the amazing successes of welfare reform, one of the amazing successes of the first term of Trump that saw over 7 million people go off food stamps and go into the workforce, is that 7 million people that get to experience the dignity of work. I mean, that's literally a single mom who comes home from her job and is carrying two bags of groceries and puts those groceries on the kitchen table and she looks at her kids and she has the self respect of knowing, hey, I'm providing for you. And the kids look at her and know that my mom is providing for you. Look, God created mankind, I believe, to work and to be productive and to make a difference, to provide for your family. And this welfare machine that the left is so invested in traps people in dependency. And you're not doing anyone a favor by making them dependent on government. Instead, you're sapping them of the path to the American dream.
- [40:55]
Co-host/Interviewer
Yeah, no, you were absolutely right. And it's almost modern day slavery where you keep people addicted to it so that they owe you on election day. And it seems to be what the Democrats are obsessed with. It truly is. It's sad, it's also shocking and it's also predictable. Now, the Democratic Party, don't forget we do this show every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So make sure you subscribe to Verdict with Ted Cruz wherever you get your podcast so you don't miss a single episode. You can also watch these episodes on YouTube. Just put in Verdict with Ted Cruz or on Facebook as well. We have it there for you wherever you are on social media. And please grab the episodes and share them so other people hear the information we give you. And the senator and I will see you back here next week on this radio station and all week long on our podcast.
- [41:40]
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Senator Ted Cruz
This is where mindset comes in.
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Senator Ted Cruz
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