Inside the Senate Vote on the New Majority Leader

Summary

Verdict with Ted Cruz: Inside the Senate Vote on the New Majority Leader – Detailed Summary

Podcast Information:

• Title: Verdict with Ted Cruz
• Host/Author: Premiere Networks
• Description: Join Senator Ted Cruz and co-host Ben Ferguson as they break down the most important news stories of the day and reveal what they mean for you. On "Verdict with Ted Cruz,” you will go behind the scenes of the political debates that define our country.
• Episode: Inside the Senate Vote on the New Majority Leader
• Release Date: November 15, 2024

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Introduction

In this episode of "Verdict with Ted Cruz," Senator Ted Cruz and co-host Ben Ferguson delve into the recent developments in Washington D.C., focusing primarily on the Senate's pivotal vote to elect a new Majority Leader. The discussion provides listeners with an insider's perspective on the election dynamics, the implications of the new leadership, and broader political shifts post-election.

Return to Washington and Election Aftermath

[01:31] Senator Ted Cruz: "Welcome it is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson with you. Senator, you're back in Washington D.C. my oh my, how things have changed since the last time you were in D.C. before election day."

Ben Ferguson reflects on the electric atmosphere in Washington following the recent election, highlighting the resurgence of Republican enthusiasm and the Democrats' apparent disarray.

[01:43] Ben Ferguson: "There is an enormous energy. There's an enormous enthusiasm. People are really excited about President Trump coming back in the White House. People are excited about the new administration. People are excited about a Republican Senate and a Republican House."

He contrasts this with the Democrats' "shell shocked" state, indicating a significant shift in the political landscape.

Senate Majority Leader Election Process and Outcome

The episode provides an in-depth look at the Senate's first Majority Leader election in 18 years. Ben Ferguson outlines the candidates, the voting process, and the eventual outcome.

[28:26] Ben Ferguson: "There were three candidates who were running for majority leader, and this is the first time we've had a majority leader election in 18 years. That was when Mitch McConnell was elected."

The candidates included Jon Thune, John Cornyn, and Rick Scott. Despite Rick Scott gaining substantial support from the Trump MAGA faction, Jon Thune ultimately secured the Majority Leader position after a two-round secret ballot.

[31:27] Ben Ferguson: "Now, what is the purpose of the secret ballot? Is that just so people can vote their conscience and there's not so much, you know, hoopla, or is it to keep it more efficient? What's the, what's."

He elaborates on the covert nature of the ballot, emphasizing the Senate's tradition and the interpersonal dynamics that influence such votes.

Implications of Majority Leadership

With Jon Thune's election as Majority Leader, the podcast explores the potential impact on Senate operations and legislative agendas.

[37:48] Ben Ferguson: "Thune is affable. He's a good guy. He's just, you're not a jerk. Everyone likes him."

Ted Cruz underscores Jon Thune's collaborative nature and his ability to work closely with President Trump to advance key legislative priorities, such as tax reform and regulatory adjustments aimed at job creation.

[41:20] Senator Ted Cruz: "I had an hour long meeting with Thune as the new majority leader and with all the committee chairs and the entire meeting was talking about, okay, how are we going to move forward with tax reform, with extending the Trump tax cuts, with regulatory reform, with unleashing energy, with securing the border, how are we going to move the legislative agenda so we can deliver big, big wins in the next year?"

Key Legislative Priorities

Spectrum Allocation

Ben Ferguson highlights the importance of reallocating government-controlled spectrum to the private sector to spur job creation and technological investment.

[18:30] Ben Ferguson: "One of my big priorities is going to be spectrum. So right now there's an enormous amount of spectrum that the government owns and controls that they keep off the market. I want to move it to the private sector."

Artificial Intelligence Regulation

The discussion shifts to AI, with a critical view of the Biden administration's heavy-handed regulatory approach, likening it to the European Union's stringent policies that potentially stifle innovation.

[18:30] Ben Ferguson: "The Democrats want to regulate the hell out of artificial intelligence. They want to create essentially a European style prior approval system where any innovation in AI, you got to go to the federal government first. That's a terrible idea."

He contrasts this with the light-touch regulations that spurred the internet's growth in the 1990s, emphasizing the need for the U.S. to lead in AI innovation.

Energy Policy

Energy dominance is identified as a critical priority to reduce inflation and bolster job creation.

[18:30] Ben Ferguson: "Energy is massively important. You want to reduce inflation. Energy as an input to just about every aspect of inflation. You want jobs. America is the energy superpower of the world. We need to be energy dominant."

College Athletics Legislation

The integrity of college sports and the protection of athletes' rights have emerged as legislative concerns, with plans to convene hearings and address issues like name, image, and likeness (NIL) regulations.

[18:30] Ben Ferguson: "Sports and college athletics... it is endangering the future and viability of college athletics. I think Congress needs to step in and legislate."

Recent Terrorist Plot and Security Concerns

In a somber turn, the podcast addresses the recent arrest of a man in Houston planning an ISIS-style attack, underscoring the heightened security risks faced by the nation.

[44:07] Ben Ferguson: "A Texas man was arrested on Thursday after he attempted to support ISIS and plan a terrorist attack on American soil."

Senator Cruz emphasizes the importance of vigilance and robust security measures to prevent such threats.

[45:43] Senator Ted Cruz: "This is the reason why it was such an election year issue. And again, this is good news that the person was caught, but it's also concerning to see this happening."

Conclusion

The episode wraps up with reflections on the Senate's future under Jon Thune's leadership, the anticipated legislative agenda, and ongoing national security challenges. Ted Cruz and Ben Ferguson reinforce their commitment to advancing Republican priorities and safeguarding the nation's interests.

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Notable Quotes:

1. Ben Ferguson at [01:43]: "People are excited about President Trump coming back in the White House. People are excited about the new administration."

2. Ben Ferguson at [28:26]: "There were three candidates who were running for majority leader, and this is the first time we've had a majority leader election in 18 years."

3. Senator Ted Cruz at [41:20]: "How are we going to move forward with tax reform... how are we going to move the legislative agenda so we can deliver big, big wins in the next year?"

4. Ben Ferguson at [18:30]: "The Democrats want to regulate the hell out of artificial intelligence. That's a terrible idea."

5. Senator Ted Cruz at [45:43]: "This is the reason why it was such an election year issue... it's also concerning to see this happening."

Final Thoughts

"Verdict with Ted Cruz" offers listeners an insightful examination of the Senate's internal dynamics, the significance of the new Majority Leader, and the broader implications for U.S. politics and policy. By providing a behind-the-scenes look at pivotal events, the podcast equips its audience with a deeper understanding of the mechanisms shaping the nation's future.

Transcript

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[Senator Ted Cruz]

Welcome it is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson with you. Senator, you're back in Washington D.C. my oh my, how things have changed since the last time you were in D.C. before election day.

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Well, I've been back in D.C. the entire week. I'm actually back in Texas right now. You and I are talking. It's 11:00 Thursday night. I just got back to Texas this evening. But this was the first week back in D.C. since the election. And I gotta say, it's a remarkable time that there is an enormous energy. There's an enormous enthusiasm. People are really excited. People are excited about President Trump coming back in the White House. People are excited about the new administration. People are excited about a Republican Senate and a Republican House. And it's interesting, you look at the Democrats, the Democrats are shell shocked. They're just, they have a difficult time believing what has happened and they're just kind of looking around like, you know, okay, wow, we're in a whole new world. And so it was a really good week. It was a consequential week. We got back, we had the very first thing we did is dove into leadership elections for the new majority leader. And the very first majority leader was elected in 18 years. And so on the podcast today, I'm going to bring you inside of that, that I'm going to tell you about what's going on in the Senate. We're going to break all of that down. We're also going to break down a, a major terrorist arrest that happened in, in you're in my hometown, Houston, Texas. So we're going to talk about all that.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

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[Senator Ted Cruz]

But when you lose the White House, you lose this, you lose the Senate and you thought you might be able to pick up the House Democrats and you don't get that either. And the Republicans have a very secure apparatus around you. That's a really bad day for Democrats when they go back to Washington.

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Yeah. And I can tell you, in the Senate at least the Senate Democrats were walking around just shell shocked. They were not expecting what happened on election day. And it's tough now. I've been there. I've been there when we had the majority and lost it. And that sucks. But this was just a thumping across the board. We also had this week, this week is the orientation for newly elected senators. So we had Jim justice from West Virginia, he was there. We had Tim Sheehy from Montana, he was there. We had Bernie Moreno from Ohio, he was there. And we have Dave McCormick from Pennsylvania, he was there. So we've got four new Republican senators, all of whom were there. And that's what flipped the Senate. So it was good to see them. They were excited to be there. And then they're starting the whole process of orientation. I will tell you, the Senate's an interesting place. So you get elected and you show up and you have a week of orientation and you do all these different little sessions where they talk about the ethics rules, they talk about all the ways it operates, they talk about staffing up your office and you're put in a little basement office as a newly elected senator elect. And you know, it's kind of an interesting place because the senate, there are 100 senator offices, there are 100 senators. You would think it would be fairly quick and efficient to assign each one of the senators the senator offices. Well, this is an aspect where, I mean, there are a lot of ways in which the US Senate is not even like a high school, it's like a junior high. It's basically mean girls. And one of the ways is the new senators basically get hazed where you get stuck down in a tiny basement office for several months. And mind you, there are fully empty Senate offices once we get to January and the old guys have left, they're fully empty Senate offices, but it takes several months to assign them. And so the new guys are there, they're kind of looking around, they're sort of blinking starry eyed. And I remember it well, you're like, holy crap, what am I doing here? And you go to the initial lunches and one of the first things you have to do as a senator is you have to decide, okay, what committees do I want to be on? And so you send a formal letter to the leader of your party saying, here are the committees I want to be on, and each senator. Actually Senators. It's a. That it's a lot better. The committee assignment process in the Senate is much, much better than the House. The way it operates is that every newly elected senator is guaranteed to what are called A committees and one B committee. And you can, with some regularity, be on even a fourth or a fifth committee as well. So the A committees are the major committees that have the broadest jurisdiction. The B committees are less consequential committees. They have less authority. And the way it works is you can accrue seniority on 2A committees and 1B committee. So for me, my 2A committees are the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and the Senate Judiciary Committee. And so when I first got elected in 2012 as a brand new baby senator, I sent in a letter and said, okay, here are the two A committees. I want Commerce and I want Judiciary, and my B committee is the Rules Committee. And so I have seniority on the Rules Committee as well. Now, you can also, with some frequency, get a third A committee and the third A committee you're on. But you don't accrue seniority, so you're not climbing up the ranks. You're not in the line to be a chairman. So my third A committee for the first six years in the Senate was the Senate Armed Services Committee. So I was on Senate Armed Services, a great committee. I enjoyed it very much. And then I shifted over to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Foreign Relations is my third A committee. So I don't recruit seniority. So I will never be chairman of Foreign Relations because I have no seniority on the committee. And you're only allowed to accrue seniority on 2As and 1B. But because I chose Judiciary and Commerce, that's why in this new Senate, I will be the chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, because I accrued enough seniority that I am now the most senior Republican on the Commerce Committee. And by the way, that is a huge damn deal. The Commerce Committee has jurisdiction.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

That's what I was going to ask you is people ask, they say, okay. They see chairmanship and they're like, does that mean more TV time? Does that mean that you're a spokesman, in a sense for the committee? Or does that mean you actually have power? So explain what that looks like.

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It is Massive and transformational. And I'll confess I didn't fully understand that until. All right, so for the last two years, I've been the ranking member on the Senate Commerce Committee. Now, what does it mean to be the ranking member? You're the senior Republican, but you're in the minority. That is a massive shift. So the last two years have been enormously consequential. And I'm about to be the chairman of the Commerce Committee because we're in the majority. Now, what does it mean when you're. And the Commerce Committee is an A committee. It is a major committee. So when you become the ranking member, which I did two years ago of the Commerce Committee, one of the consequences is your budget goes up dramatically. So to give a sense, as a senator from a large state, a state like Texas, I had, for the first 10 years in the Senate, about 65 staff members. So I have roughly 30 to 35 in D.C. and 30 to 35 in Texas. So that's the divide. You have about half in D.C. they're your policy staff, your communications staff, your administrative staff. That's in D.C. and then in Texas, I've got regional offices all over the state, in the major cities, and I've got constituent service teams in Texas that help 30 million Texans. So if you're. If you're a veteran and you're dealing with the VA and you got issues, you call into my constituent service team and we help help veterans. We help seniors with Social Security. We help people whose passports have expired. We get people who are like, you know, getting ready to take a family vacation in tomorrow, and they realize, oh, crap, my passport's expired, and we help them get a passport. So we you, you as a senator, and you get a little bit larger budget, a little bit larger staff if you're a large state. And Texas, obviously, is a large state. So for 10 years, I had, like I said, between 60 and 65 staff members. When I became the ranking member of the Commerce Committee, my staff expanded by about a third. So I have roughly 100 staff members now. So I have, I think, 38 staff members on the Commerce Committee. So it dramatically changes your effectiveness because, I mean, literally, my DC Staff more than doubled. And what it means is that I've got staff members now for every subcommittee on the Commerce Committee. So, for example, I've got on my team a railroad lawyer who is an expert in the law concerning railroads. I've got an expert on aviation. Because, look, the Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over aviation. It has jurisdiction over communications. It has Jurisdiction over railroads, it has jurisdiction over space, it has jurisdiction over just a vast array. And I will say it is a force multiplier. When you have that team, you are able to engage on, you know, I would say 5x or 10x as many issues because every other member of the Commerce Committee, when I was on the commerce committee for 10 years, I had like one or two staffers that were on commerce. If you have one or two staffers versus 38, it just limits how deep you can dive into issues, how many things you can engage in. When you've got an expanded team, you can engage in oversight, you can put out reports. You just have the ability to drive much more of an agenda. There's a second aspect of it, which is when bills are being attached to other moving vehicles. So for example, you have something like the National Defense Authorization act, the NDAA passes every year. It authorizes our entire military. It's a hugely consequential bill because it passes every year. It is often basically a Christmas tree where you will get dozens or even hundreds of other bills attached to it that have nothing to do with defense. And it's just a moving vehicle that people attach their bills. Now, the way the Senate.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Is that where the port gets pulled in or.

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No, it's actually not really about pork. That pork happens more in an appropriations bill and an omnibus bill which is doing spending. But this is just a vehicle for different bills that, that, that are often good and reasonable ideas and different people will attach them to a moving vehicle. But the way the Senate operates is any bill that is within the Commerce Committee jurisdiction cannot be attached to the NDAA or to anything else without the sign off of the chairman who's been, Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington for the last two years, and the sign off of the ranking member. So I have an absolute veto. If any other senator has any bill within our jurisdiction that they want to attach to a moving vehicle, they cannot do so without my sign off. That gives an enormous amount of leverage. And so the last two years, like I passed a ton of legislation because frankly, I used that leverage to say, hey, that's great, you want your bill to move. I want you to agree to my bill on this. I want you to agree to doing this. And so it gives you the ability, because you can shut anything down within the jurisdiction of your committee. It gives you the ability to negotiate some major victories for Texas, some major free market victories, some major victories for job creation. And so that was a huge shift. And I will say when you become the chairman. Okay, I only been the incoming chairman for a couple days, so I don't really know I will have much more of an assessment of that six months from now, but but I think it is 5x if not 10x more consequential.

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[Senator Ted Cruz]

Com cocktail so the question is for everybody listening is okay, what will get done because of this? Right? This is part of the payoff of the election, getting the Senate to be in the majority with the Republicans. So paint the picture for people to understand. Not only is this yes, powerful, but what does this now mean that we can get done? That maybe in the last Congress there was no chance in hell of certain things getting done.

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Yeah. So look, my number one priority in the Senate is jobs. I'm focused on jobs, jobs, jobs, economic growth. I want more jobs. I want more jobs in Texas. I want more opportunity in Texas. I want higher wages in Texas. If you want jobs, the two most effective levers to produce jobs are tax reform and regulatory reform. That every time you reduce taxes, you simplify the tax code, you reduce and repeal job killing regulations, small businesses expand and you get more jobs. The Commerce Committee, as I said, has jurisdiction over 40% of the US economy. So if you care about jobs, there are very few positions in Washington that have greater leverage, greater ability to impact jobs in the state of Texas than chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. And so what will get done? So, for example, one of my big priorities is going to be spectrum. So right now there's an enormous amount of spectrum that the government owns and controls that they keep off the market. I want to move it to the private sector. Why? Because when you move Spectrum to the private sector, it creates tens or even hundreds of thousands of jobs and it unleashes tens or hundreds of billions of dollars of investment. That spectrum enables 5G enables expanding wireless, enables new technology apps. That is, if you care about jobs, opening up spectrum for the private sector and the way the government does it, it has an auction for the spectrum. So you free up an area of spectrum and then you have a public auction and companies pay billions of dollars to the federal government to acquire a portion of spectrum and then to market something to consumers. And so it ends up being a massive area of investment and expansion of jobs. That's going to be a huge priority. Another huge priority for me is artificial intelligence. The Democrats want to regulate the hell out of artificial intelligence. They want to create essentially a European style prior approval system where any innovation in AI, you got to go to the federal government first. That's a terrible idea. It's an idea that is almost perfectly designed to ensure that America loses the battle for AI and we fall behind the rest of the world. Well, as chairman of the Commerce Committee, I'm not going to let that happen. I want to maintain a very light touch regulatory environment where innovation is driven from the private sector. Because I think AI, and we'll talk about this more, we'll have additional podcasts that go deeper into AI. But I think AI has a potential and in fact, I think it will be the same sort of transformational technology that the development of the Internet was 25 years ago. And in fact, several months ago, I wrote an op ed with Phil Graham, former senator from Texas, and I did something that would Surprise some people, but Phil and I together, we praised a Democrat president, we praised Bill Clinton. So Bill Clinton was president during the really formation of the Internet. And Bill Clinton signed an executive order that was a very light touch regulatory footprint on the Internet and the growth of it. And it allowed private companies to develop and innovate. And the consequence of that, so it's actually striking. In 1993, the economy of the United States of America was almost exactly the same size as the economy of the European Union.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

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The EU took a dramatically different approach. They took a prior approval approach where they said, okay, our government has to approve whatever you're doing on the Internet. Now fast forward 30 years. What are the consequences? Today the American economy is 50% larger than the EU. So we went from essentially 100% to 150%. The biggest driver of that is the rise of technology. You look at the Internet, virtually every major big tech company in the world is headquartered in the United States and is driving massive job creation. Now big tech also has abuses and I focused on that a lot. And that's going to be a big focus of the Commerce Committee as well. But that job creation, that wealth creation, that innovation is hugely consequential. What Biden did, he entered an eo, an executive order on AI, that basically modeled what the European Union did. It was a heavy handed government prior approval mechanism that I think if that stayed the law, it would cede leadership to the rest of the world and we would fall behind China and the rest of the world in the development of AI. I think that'd be catastrophic because AI is going to be every bit as transformative a technology as the Internet was. And I want America to lead that battle. And so that is a big, big consequence for the Commerce Committee. Two other areas I'll mention that are going to be huge priorities. Energy. Energy is massively important. You want to reduce inflation. Energy as an input to just about every aspect of inflation. You want jobs. America is the energy superpower of the world. We need to be energy dominant. And Donald Trump, that's a huge priority for him. And that's going to be a huge priority for me as chairman of the Commerce Committee. And I'll say one other topic and we'll talk about this also in a subsequent podcast, but sports and college athletics, you and I both love college sports right now. The current world of college sports is the Wild West. Name, image and likeness, open transfer portals. It is, I think, endangering the future and viability of college athletics. I think Congress needs to step in and legislate when the Democrats were in the majority, it just wasn't a priority for them. It will be a priority. We are going to address it. And as chairman, I can convene hearings. I'm in charge of every hearing the Commerce Committee has. I invite the witnesses for the hearings. I can call up markups. I can decide what bills get marked up and what bills don't. And it gives you the ability to drive an agenda that is just qualitatively different.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

That's going to be a very interesting topic, especially my ears perk up as a, as a former college athlete, because there is, there does have to be a happy medium. But you're right, it has become the Wild West. So how do we make it where you also are protecting the athletes and sports, the integrity of the game. And that's going to be something very fun to watch as we continue this next year. I also want to ask you about the Senate election because my, oh my, did that blow up on social media. And before we get to that, I want to tell you real quick about my friends over at Blackout Coffee. If you're like me, you start your morning off with a cup of coffee. Why settle for an average cup of coffee? Or why settle for a woke liberal cup of coffee? Now, when I said woke and liberal, you probably thought of a couple of different coffee brands. The coffee space is filled with woke companies with that are huge donors and supporters to Democrats. If you don't want to have your coffee push that agenda, you need to check out blackout coffee. Blackout coffee is not, by the way, average coffee. It is premium coffee. They accept no compromise on taste or quality. If you want to have the best cup of coffee your life, you need to go right now and I'm going to save you money. To try blackout coffee, go to blackout coffee.com verdict blackout coffee.com verdict use the coupon code verdict for 20% off your first order. Blackout Coffee is 100% committed to conservative values. And that's why it was started from the sourcing of the beans, the roasting process, customer support and shipping. They embody true American values. And the best part is they accept no compromise on taste or quality. So try it. You're going to get hooked. You're going to love it. It's a premium cup of coffee. Blackout Coffee.com verdict Coupon code verdict 20% off your first order Be awake every day. Not woke, but awake. Blackout Coffee.com verdict Promo code verdict so let's deal with the Senate vote real quick. I, I got angry when I get angry. I tweet in all caps because there was a list that was put out, and this list was such a joke because it had so many things that were wrong. It had Thune voting for Cornyn. The list was, as I said, a lie. I thought it was a lie to divide the Republican Party. It was a lie to get Republicans to go after one another. It wasn't an accurate list. There was a lot of them that were accurate, but that was like Captain Obvious accuracy. Like, of course this person was going to vote for this one, X, Y and Z. But the list itself, when you got down to it, was a list that I think was just put out there to rile up and anger conservatives, feeling like they're already getting screwed after this Election Day. And they're not listening to conservative voters, they're not listening to MAGA supporters, they're not listening to Trump supporters. And at the end of the day, it was a lie, and it was done just to divide, and it made me furious. Your reaction? All right, so let's get into the Senate, vote for who was going to be the majority leader. And this was a vote that really, I think, took up a lot of oxygen on social media, and there were a lot of people that had a lot of opinions about it. So let's just talk about what actually happened and how the debate went. And people were saying it isn't even fair. Is that a fair assessment? I don't think so, from what I saw. I want you to tell everybody how this went down.

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Sure. So there were three candidates who were running for majority leader, and this is the first time we've had a majority leader election in 18 years. That was when Mitch McConnell was elected. 18 years. So we had a contested and a new leader elected this week. The three candidates were Jon Thune. Jon Thune is the current Republican whip. So the number two official he was running, John Cornyn, was running my fellow Texas senator, who was the previous Republican whip. He had been the whip before Thune. And the Republican Conference has term limits in place. So John Cornyn spent six years as the whip, and after six years, he had to step down as whip. So he was whipped for six years. And then Thune was. Is the current whip, and he's. So the two of them were running, and then the third candidate running was Rick Scott. Rick Scott, Senator from Florida. And it was a very contested election. A lot of the Trump MAGA world got behind Rick Scott. Got very vocally behind Rick Scott. I supported Rick Scott. I publicly supported Rick Scott. And I will tell you that the dynamics of the election. So the way it works is you go into the election happens in the old Senate chamber. So the old Senate chamber is where the Senate used to meet before the current Senate chamber was built. It's a much smaller room. It's a historic room. It's where many of the great lions of the Senate like, met and debated. And so that's where we always have our leader elections. And you're in there, and it's senators are in there. And what happens is you have each of the three nominees. There are nominating speeches. There's a senator who stands up and nominates one of the three people. There's a second senator who stands up and gives a seconding speech, and then the person who's being nominated gives a speech. And so for each of the three, you had those speeches. And it took quite a while. I mean, the speeches, Senators are not known for their brevity. So they were pretty long winded speeches. And then we had a few questions and senator asked several questions. On Tuesday night before the vote, we also had a forum where we asked vigorous questions of all three of the candidates. And then you vote, you vote, and it's by secret ballot. They hand out these little, little cards and you check. You checked either Thune, Cornyn, or Scott. So I checked Scott. I voted. And the way it works is that everyone votes and you have to get a majority to be elected, but whoever is third gets eliminated. So we had the first vote, and on the first vote, Rick Scott was third. And so Rick Scott was eliminated. And then there was a second round of balloting just between Thune and Cornyn. And on the second round of balloting, Thune won. And so Thune is now the majority leader. Now.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

So what is that? What is the purpose of the secret ballot? Is that just so people can vote their conscience and there's not so much, you know, hoopla, or is it to keep it more efficient? What's the, what's. Or is it just tradition? What's behind that?

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Look, some of it is because you've got to work with these people. Remember, the Senate's a small place. There are 53 of us. And so, you know, if you're voting against the person who's your leader, that is a small and awkward dynamic. So I would have liked the ballot to be public. I would have absolutely supported making it public. It's why I announced that I was voting for Rick Scott because I wanted to tell the voters. But most of the senators don't So I don't know. I know some of the senators, some of the senators chose to say who they were voting for, but I'd say at least half the senators, I have no idea how they voted. They didn't say, they haven't publicly said. And there is a dynamic when you're dealing with a small enough group of people that you've gotta, after the election, you gotta turn around and work not just with whoever won, but whoever lost. So I think that's some of the history. It's always, to the best of my knowledge, it has always been a secret ballot. And because of that dynamic and the other Senate leadership votes are secret ballot as well. And look, two years ago in 2022, we had the first contested leadership ballot in 16 years. And two years ago, Rick Scott challenged Mitch McConnell and I was the point of the spear. So the beginning of that battle two years ago, the very first thing that happened is I stood up and I made a motion to delay the election for a month. So we were voting two years.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

By the way, we did a great show on this. It's all coming back to me now that you can go back and listen to, because I think if I'm not mistaken, we did it like at two in the morning after the voting had taken place and you'd come out and told this story. I would encourage everybody, if you want to go back and listen to this episode, like you said, it's like two years ago and it was a big fight then. And like you said, you were the one leading the tip of the spear on it.

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Yep. And it was two years ago. It is always the week after the election now, by the way, Republican leadership does that because the people who vote are the senators who will be the senators for the next two years. So the brand new baby senators who were just elected, they vote. The senators who are retiring or leaving the Senate, they don't vote. And part of the reason they do that is because they want the brand new baby senators not to know what they're doing, to be just in their basement office, not to know where the men's room is. And they don't want newly elected senators to rock the boat. It's designed, it's actually a pretty cynical thing. It's designed not to challenge the status quo. So two years ago I made a motion, look, 2022 should have been a fantastic election for Republicans. We should have won the Senate. We should have grown our majority in the House. It should have been a fantastic election. And it was a lousy election. And I stood up and said, listen, we ought to delay this vote by a month and we ought to spend the month next month talking about why we got our asses kicked, like what's going wrong. And I turned to Mitch McConnell, I said, Listen, for the last two years we had a handful of Republicans team up with the Democrats to pass the Democrats priorities. Now maybe that's a good idea. Someone here can make the argument why that's a good idea. I think it's dumb as hell, but if you want to make the argument it's a good idea, we ought to talk about it. What I can tell you that is objectively true is the Democrats never do that. Like when we had Trump was president, we had a Republican Senate, Republican House. There was not a single bill we passed that consisted of all the Republicans and a handful of Democrats joining us. They opposed everything. And by the way, for the next two years, I think they will as well. So I said, look, we ought to debate. Whatever we did didn't work. We ought to debate it. And so I laid out, I gave a 45 minute speech, I looked at Mitch McConnell, I said, Tell me, over the next two years, what are you willing to fight over? I said, listen, you and I may disagree, there are a lot of things I think we should fight over. They're not for you. But is there anything, is there one thing you're willing to fight on over the next two years? By the way, Mitch refused to answer that question. We ended up, after I made the motion to delay the vote, I ended up getting 16 votes for that motion. I needed 25, so we had 49 Republicans, so I needed 25 for a majority. So I fell nine votes short. Those 16 votes were the first votes ever cast against Mitch McConnell. And that was very consequential after that, Rick Scott, because I failed to delay the election, Rick Scott ran against Mitch, I voted for Rick, I was quite vocal about it. And Rick got 10 votes. And so that's what happened. I was one of those 10, by the way. After the votes, Mitch McConnell exacted retribution on the senators who opposed him. So for example, the Commerce Committee, both Rick Scott and Mike Lee used to be on the Commerce committee. And Mitch McConnell uses authority as the GOP leader to throw them both off. The Commerce Committee, Eric Schmidt from Missouri, who also voted against Mitch, Eric Schmidt wanted to be on Judiciary. And Mitch used his authority to orchestrate blocking him from being on Judiciary. So there were real punitive measures that were implemented, attacking the people that dared stand up to McConnell. So this time Around Rick Scott did better than he did two years ago. Two years ago, he got 10 votes. This time he got 13 votes. So we picked up three more votes. I don't know who those three, three more votes were. I was one of those 13 as I'd been one of those 10. But Rick did not prevail. And then ultimately Thune prevailed on the second ballot. And so Thune will be the majority leader going forward.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

So let's talk about Thune for just a second. What do people need to know about him that maybe they don't know yet?

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Listen, I like Jonathan. I've worked with him. I've worked with Thune, I've worked with Corn, and I've worked with Rick Scott. I mean, the Senate is a small place. It's a collegial place. If you want to actually accomplish anything, you've got to deal with and work cooperatively with your colleagues. John Thune is from South Dakota. You know, he's a tall, good looking college athlete. He was a college basketball player. You know, Thune and I, you know, used to, he works out every morning in the gym and he's, he's very fit. I would work out at the same time he was, and it was kind of embarrassing because he would lift a lot more weight than I could lift. And he would, he would be like pumping iron. And it's sort of humbling to watch Thune because he's just, you know, he's a man in his early 60s who's in really good shape. Look, Thune, I was not surprised Thune won because he's very well liked by his colleagues. Thune is affable. He's a good guy. He's just, he's not a jerk. He's not. He's. Everyone likes him. It's just, I mentioned before, the Senate is a little bit like a junior high. You know, Thune would win the class president election. And a lot of it is the kind of small little personal dynamics that play out on that. But as I said, I was not surprised Thune won. I will say, a lot of the Trump world was freaking out saying, oh, Thune hates Donald Trump and he's going to oppose everything Trump wants to do. I think those concerns were overstated. Listen, John Thune is majority leader and every senator is excited that we have a Republican White House, Republican Senate, Republican House. And we are really focused on delivering results and delivering on our promises to the voters. And so I think Thune is leader is going to focus on working very closely with President Trump to confirm his cabinet appointments to move forward. Now, it doesn't necessarily mean that the Senate is going to be a Rubber stamp for 100% of everything that comes from the White House. And it's not the Senate's job to be a rubber stamp for everything that comes from the White House. Under the Constitution, the Senate is supposed to have a role, a role of on nominations, advice and consent, a role of check and balance. But I can tell you that the sort of folks and I had multiple calls from Trump's team, very worried, okay, is Thune going to fight us in everything we're doing? And I was like, okay, I know, I. So today I had an hour long meeting with Thune as the new majority leader and with all the committee chairs and the entire meeting was talking about, okay, how are we going to move forward with tax reform, with extending the Trump tax cuts, with regulatory reform, with unleashing energy, with securing the border, how are we going to move the legislative agenda so we can deliver big, big wins in the next year? And that was the focus from Thune and every committee chairman. So I think I understand. Look, I voted for Rick Scott because I think Rick was offering the greatest change. But at the end of the day, to prevail, you've got to be able to get a majority of the Republican senators and Rick did not.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah, great point. And I love that you, you explained it the way that you did because there were so many people that had questions and want to know how it went down and what happened. And I hope that answered a lot of those questions. If you've got a daughter, if you've got a granddaughter, you've got a son, a Grandson, maybe they're 18, but they're not 21. Maybe they're at school right now and they can't have a firearm. But you want to know they can protect themselves. Maybe you have a wife or a mother in law or a sister in law and you say, I want them to be able to have something to protect themselves more than just pepper spray. Well, maybe they don't feel comfortable carrying a firearm yet, or maybe they can't carry a firearm where they work. That is where a company comes in that can help you tremendously. It is called Burna. Burna is a not only a incredible, less lethal pistol launcher, but it can actually save two lives when it's used. It's a great complement to owning a firearm. Now I've had to use a firearm to save my life. I had to pull the trigger. And I can tell you, knowing that you can protect and defend yourself is so important. And that's why I have bought these for so many of my family members. It is legal in all 50 states. There are no permits or background checks needed. And like I said, not only do I own these, but my family has them as well. Burna is designed for easy use by all age groups 18 and older. It is a launcher that has powerful deterrents like tear gas and kinetic rounds with a 60 foot range putting much more distance between you and a threat than tear gas or pepper spray or a taser. And that's why I love the Burna launcher. One shot can incapacitate attackers for up to 40 minutes. And it's used by government agencies as well and law enforcement around the country. Over a half million units have been sold and they have more than 14,000 four and a half star reviews. Now you need to see the videos and once you see it, you'll understand why I have this and I'm a huge advocate for them. Go to burna.com verdict not only will you get to see what this launcher does and this, it's amazing, but you're also going to get 10% off your purchase. That's byrna.com verdict for 10% off by rna.com verdict Finally, Senator, there was some news and I'm glad that this is a successful story in the sense that we got a terrorist. But it's also a very concerning story coming out of Houston of a man planning a attack, an ISIS style attack. And the FBI has arrested a man for direct ties to ISIS and a terror plot.

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Well, that's right. It was a very disturbing story. A Texas man was arrested on Thursday after he attempted to support ISIS and plan a terrorist attack on American soil. And all of this happened in Houston, Texas. So 28 year old by the name of Anas Saeed and he was searching for ways to commit violent acts on behalf of the Islamic State in Houston. He's been charged with attempting to provide material support to a terrorist group. He was arrested as an apartment complex and he said while in custody he admitted to researching how to conduct an attack on local military recruiting centers. He offered his home as a sanctuary for ISIS operatives. He bragged that he would commit a 911 style attack if he had the resources and he was attempting to produce ISIS propaganda and that this is a very dangerous world. And I will say it has gotten only more dangerous. After four years of weakness from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the White House, I am glad that this alleged terrorist was arrested that a terrorist attack was stopped and I think it is critically important going forward that we be vigorous. I am deeply worried. We've talked a lot of this podcast about my belief that we are at a greater risk of a major terrorist attack today than we've been any time since 911 and this arrest this week just underscores that risk.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah, and this is the reason why it was such an election year issue. And again, this is good news that the person was caught, but it's also concerning to see this happening after an Afghan man in Oklahoma plotted an election day terror attack in the US on behalf of isis, the Justice Department saying that as well. So we're seeing more of these headlines. Let's hope we keep getting them before they're able to act. Don't forget we do the show Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hit that subscribe or auto download button so you do not miss an episode. And also grab my podcast on those in between days, the Ben Ferguson Podcast. I'll keep you updated on the latest breaking news there as well, and the Senator and I will see you back here on Saturday for our week in review.

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