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Senator Ted Cruz
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Karen Kilgariff
Hey, it's Karen and Georgia from my favorite Murder. Thanks to Hyundai, we got to take a post show drive in the Ionic five.
iHeart Podcast Host
We had snacks, laughs and we even recorded a special episode featuring some unforgettable car themed stories.
Karen Kilgariff
Take a listen. So I'm gonna tell you a story today, Karen. It's about a pivotal role that cars played in none other than the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
iHeart Podcast Host
Okay, well, right there in the title, right? This episode is brought to you by the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5.
Rodney Williams
I'm Rodney Williams. And I'm Travis Holloway. Welcome to the wealthbreak podcast, a real conversation about finance. Let's be honest, building wealth doesn't look the same for everyone.
iHeart Podcast Host
I feel like sometimes being broke is a cycle and that we might have.
Rodney Williams
To revisit that and we're not stopping at success stories.
Karen Kilgariff
What happens when it doesn't go right?
Senator Ted Cruz
How do you cope with it?
Rodney Williams
Because wealth isn't just about money. It's about creating a life where you thrive and help others do the same. Listen to the Wealth Break podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
Ben Ferguson
Welcome. It is verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you and Senator, we finally got some action in the Senate on the big beautiful bill. Catch us up to date.
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, we do. Late Saturday night there was a major vote to move forward the one big beautiful bill. The vote passed. The vote was 51 to 49. All Republicans except two voted to move it forward. Now Sunday, you and I are recording this on Sunday. So we don't know exactly what has happened yet except that Monday is going to be an all day vote. A rama unlimited amendments. The Democrats are going to try to make Republicans cast all sorts of votes on all sorts of politically terrible amendments. Here's my prediction. We will get this done. And by the end of the day Monday, the one big beautiful bill will pass the United States Senate. It will have major, major victories for the American people, major victories for President Trump's agenda. We're going to break down what is likely to be in it. And we're also going to talk about three major Supreme Court decisions that came down on Friday, Big victories for conservatives, reasons to celebrate. We're going to lay out the details of all three.
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, it is going to be very big. And we'll talk about the biggest things that happened, as you mentioned, with the Supreme Court and also what is in the big beautiful bill in just a moment. Want to talk to you real quick about a really awesome company. Two of my good friends started this, Buck Sexton and Clay Travis, because they were sick and tired of just getting an average cup of coffee. Look, good coffee. It's easy to find, but great tasting coffee is so much harder to discover. And they sent me some Crockett coffee and I was like, all right, I'm going to try it. It's my friend's company. How good is it? Let me just tell you. It was special. Crockett coffee is roasted to perfection in small batches on purpose by experts who love the taste of great coffee. It's roasted in our nation's heartland and delivered fresh to your home or office. You're going to love exactly what you get in every single cup of coffee. And you're going to enjoy the aroma of Crockett coffee as it brews in your home or your office like you've never experienced before. So if you want a great cup of coffee, a premium cup of small batch coffee every single day, then you need to check out Crockett Coffee. You can choose between fresh ground, whole bean or K cups. Whatever it is you like, you get it. And if you're interested in mushroom coffee and the positive benefits come with enjoying that each day, Crockett Coffee is now producing that, too. There's a dark roast, a mild roast, a light roast, a decaf version. They've got it all. So check out this company and what they do. And here's the other thing. A portion of your purchase every time goes to support tunnels to Towers foundation. Because the good people at Crockett Coffee are pledged to never forget what happened. Go online. I'm going to save you money. Crockettcoffee.com if you use my name, Ben, you're going to get 20% off your first order. That's CrockettCoffee.com use my name, Ben, to get 20% off your 1st order. That's Crockettcoffee.com promo code, Ben, and you'll get 20% off and you'll love it. All right, so the big beautiful bill, it's becoming real. It's in the Senate. What excites you the most about what's in this bill, Senator, that people need to know about?
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, this bill is the principal vehicle to advance President Trump's agenda. The mandate we had coming out of the election. Now, let me tell you procedurally where we are. Saturday night at 7:30, the Senate took it up. We needed at least 50 votes to move forward. There was a lot of drama. It was not clear that we were going to have 50 votes at the end of the day. And it was about midnight on Saturday night. We ended up with 51 votes. Two Republicans voted no, Rand Paul voted no, and Thom Tillis voted no. Rand was always going to vote no. Rand has said from the beginning he's going to vote no against anything in this bill. It's frustrating. Rand is a friend, but. But his vote is. Is hard. No. No matter what. So he's off the table. So we basically have 52 Republicans to work with. Tom Tillis. Thom Tillis has been very vocal that he's concerned about Medicaid and he wants fewer cuts in Medicaid spending. I don't agree with Tom on this, but he certainly has a right to his view. Tom's a good man. That debate will be ongoing. What will happen next? So the Democrats objected. Normally there's a pretty standard motion in the Senate where you ask unanimous consent to waive the reading of the bill. Well, the Democrats objected. To that. So what is happening is a poor clerk of the court or clerk of the Senate rather, has to sit there and read a thousand page bill. And so all night, Saturday night at 1:00am, 2:00am, 3:00am, 4:00am, 5:00am A clerk of the court is reading page after page of a thousand page bill. They're going to read the entirety of the bill. That'll take 10 to 12 hours. We will then shortly thereafter. So the Democrats then have 10 hours of debate where they're all going to stand up and the preview that they're going to say on Sunday is they're going to say Republicans are horrible. They're going to say Republicans are throwing granny off the cliff. They're going to say Republicans hate poor kids, hate people with disabilities, hate women, children, men, old people, young people, puppies, kittens, everyone and everything. They're going to say that they're going to attack this bill like crazy. But then their 10 hours are going to be up and the Democrats can't stop it. What happens next? And this will happen Sunday evening. It'll extend all night Sunday, it'll extend into Monday morning. This podcast will come out. My prediction is this podcast will come out and we'll still be voting. We'll end voting sometime between midnight, 1, 2, 3, 4am, 5am it could be as late as 7, 8, 9, 10am on Monday. It depends how long the Democrats delay. One of the weird things about budget reconciliation, the entire process proceeds under the Budget act of 1974. The reason reconciliation matters, there's a lot of procedural gobbledygook that doesn't matter. But the reason it matters, it's the principal exception to the Senate filibuster. The ordinary rules in the Senate are that you need 60 votes to proceed on legislation. We don't have 60 Republicans, we only have 53. So to get 60 votes, you need seven Democrats. Seven Democrats are not going to agree to do anything positive for America right now. Which means budget reconciliation is the main way to get around that. Under the rules of budget reconciliation, the Democrats can offer unlimited amendments. So they're going to offer every horrible amendment they can. And they, they're literally sitting there drafting, okay, what amendment can we craft that makes Republicans take a terrible vote? Makes Republicans take a vote that then will run TV ads and attack them and try to beat them in November? That'll happen all night.
Ben Ferguson
Give an example of that gamesmanship.
Senator Ted Cruz
And by the way, both sides do this. So when the Democrats are in control, they use budget reconciliation. They used it multiple times. They spent trillions of dollars through budget reconciliation. The so called inflation Reduction act was passed through budget reconciliation. And so look, we teed up all sorts of terrible votes, which frankly, we ran campaign ads against them and beat them in November on that. And so there is value in forcing your opponents to vote on things they don't want to vote for, particularly when your opponents are embracing unpopular positions. In this case, they'll try to tee up bad amendments and hopefully Republicans will rally together and reject those amendments. But it will be, it's going to be a long night. I expect that. All 100 senators. And by the way, the median age is about 106. So that says something. All 100 senators, I think will be up all night Sunday night and well into the morning on Monday. At the end of the day, I believe we'll get this done. We'll see. I mean, look, this podcast will come out and when we'll find out if my prediction is right or wrong. But I think we will get it done. And there's a lot of good elements in this bill. This bill, number one, avoids a $4 trillion tax increase. If we did nothing at the end of this year, there would be an automatic $4 trillion tax increase. The entire 2017 Trump tax cuts would expire. And so a huge purpose of this bill is to avoid that, to keep taxes low. This bill also embodies and enacts many of the key tax cut promises President Trump made. So, for example, this bill includes no taxes on tips. That's my legislation. I wrote that legislation. It was President Trump's promise. But I wrote the bill that is in this bill. We're going to get it passed. It also includes no taxes on Social Security and no taxes on overtime. Both of those are huge working class, blue collar victories. President Trump campaigned on them and I think we're going to deliver them. Beyond that, this bill is also the vehicle to secure the border. There's $150 billion in funding to secure the border, to build the wall, to hire more Border Patrol agents, to hire more ICE agents, to deploy more technology at the border. That is a big deal. On top of that, there's another $150 billion to rebuild the military, to invest in defeating China, defeating our adversaries, to invest in hypersonics, to invest in the next generation of military defense. Historically, the Democrats keep defense hostage. So the battle that you have in Washington classically is between guns and butter, where Republicans care about guns. We care about actually defending the nation, supporting our military. The Democrats, by and large, don't care about that. And they try to hold defense spending hostage to push for more domestic spending, more welfare. They are the party of welfare. They are the party of big spending. We're making a major investment in the military precisely because the Democrats can't hold that hostage. And then there are a ton of other priorities, including three huge priorities of mine, legislation that I introduced that are in this bill. Number one, auctioning off 800 megahertz of spectrum. Why does that matter? What does that mean, auctioning off spectrum? Look, electromagnetic spectrum is how all of our electronic devices communicate. It's how WI fi operates. It's how you get your cell phone operates. It's how you get streaming. And 60% of the most valuable spectrum is controlled by the federal government. I wrote the provision in this bill that mandates the federal government sell a significant chunk of that spectrum to the private sector. That's going to do a couple of things, Ben. Number one, it's going to produce, I believe, over $100 billion in real revenue to the taxpayers, money that will pay down the deficit, pay down the debt. So that's real revenue to the federal government. But number two, even more importantly, it will unleash billions of dollars of private sector investment and create hundreds of thousands of jobs because America needs to win the race for 6G, which is the next generation of telecom and beat China. That is in this bill. And then there are two other provisions we've talked about, both of which I've authored. Number one is school choice. And this bill has the most significant federal school choice provision ever written into law. I wrote it as we speak. Now I'm battling with the Senate parliamentarian to keep that in the bill. I believe we will keep that in the bill. And that investment, I think school choice is the civil rights issue of the 21st century. And finally there are the Invest America accounts, the Trump accounts, where this bill will create a private investment account for every child in America, will cede it with $1,000, will allow family and employers and parents to contribute $5,000 a year in a tax advantage fund. That fund will be invested in the s and P500. It will grow with compound growth, and it will make a whole new generation of capitalists. I actually think this provision, it's a very small part of the bill. I think 10, 20, 30 years from now, it will be the single most impactful part of the bill because we will have a whole generation of kids who have built up savings and investment in the market. They will be owners of the major employers in America. That's in the bill, I'm really excited about it.
Ben Ferguson
It's going to be, as you said, one of the core things, I think for Donald Trump in a victory for him and for the American people. How significant do you think the boost could be just to the rest of the agenda of putting America first, the MAGA agenda, because of this big victory? I say early on as administration, yes, we're well past 100 days. It takes time to get these things done. But this could also be momentum building for other agenda items. Am I wrong?
Senator Ted Cruz
You're not wrong. And listen, I expect we're going to take up other reconciliation bills over the next year and a half. Why? Because reconciliation is the biggest exception to the filibuster. So it's the way we can legislate and get victories. But this bill has massive victories in it. Now, some conservatives, including me, have argued we should cut spending more. I agree with that. I have leaned in hard on cut spending, cut spending. I've made that case to my colleagues. I wish we were cutting spending more, but at the end of the day, we are reducing spending some. We need to do more. And we are cutting taxes in a profound way. And we are winning major victories for President Trump's agenda. There's a reason President Trump is all in behind this bill. And so I think we're going to get it done. I don't know if it'll be signed into law by July 4th, but I think if the Senate gets it done on Monday, there's a real chance the House will come back and just pass the bill and we could see on the 4th of July President Trump signing this into law. And here we have a specimen from the early 2000s, a legacy investing platform. Please don't touch the exhibit folks. It could crash.
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Senator Ted Cruz
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Karen Kilgariff
Supply hey, it's Karen and Georgia from My favorite Murder. Thanks to Hyundai, we got to take a post show drive in the Ionic five.
iHeart Podcast Host
We had snacks, laughs and we even recorded a special episode featuring some unforgettable car themed stories.
Karen Kilgariff
Take a listen. The Montgomery Bus Boycott. Success was dependent on the action and dedication of many individuals, of course. But today we're going to focus on the work of one of those people in particular. A woman in her 30s. And yes, I love her name. It's Georgia Gilmour.
iHeart Podcast Host
Oh yes. Today's story is centered on a group of courageous women dedicated on taking down Hitler during World War II. They banded together to form an all female ambulance corps which became the first unit of its kind to join an official combat division on the Western front. This is the story of the Rochambeau group, best known by their nickname, the Rochambelles.
Karen Kilgariff
Oh my God.
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Right? This episode is brought to you by the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5.
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Ben Ferguson
I want to move to the other big story as well, and this one deals with the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court's term has come to an end, and there was a major not just win, but wins for President Trump and also the rule of law. I love talking Supreme Court with you. And I mean, this is a compliment. You get to geek out on it because you clerk there. Take us into what just happened and how significant were some of these major decisions.
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, you know, there are few things more wonderful than an Ole Miss varsity tennis player calling me a geek. But, you know, the truth hurts. And so I will happily do that. So there were three major decisions from the Supreme Court came down the end of last week. All three were victories. The most important was a decision on President Trump's birthright citizenship executive order. And the punchline is the court dramatically reined in the ability of district courts to issue nationwide injunctions, universal injunctions. We're going to break all that down momentarily. There was also a big victory that held that the parents of public school children can opt out of LGBT curriculum. It's a big win for religious liberty, big win for parental rights. And finally, one other decision upheld a Texas law. So Texas passed a law requiring age verification for porn sites that was challenged as unconstitutional. And the Supreme Court upheld that. Six. Three as well. So three big victories, really important.
Ben Ferguson
All right, so let's start with universal injunctions and the Trump v. Casa case. This is also, by the way, something that you chaired the subcommittee hearing on that very issue earlier this month. So explain why this is such an important issue for everyone listening.
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, this was a case challenging President Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship. Birthright citizenship is the law that says that a baby born in America is a US Citizen, even if that baby's parents are illegally, even if they came illegally precisely to have that baby in America. Nonetheless, that baby is a US Citizen. As a policy matter, I think that is a very foolish policy. It is a policy that incentivizes illegal immigration. You see, people, I spend a lot of time at the Southern border. I go out on midnight patrols with the border patrol agents. We see every day pregnant women coming across the border illegally, coming across, being brought in by human traffickers with the express purpose of coming here to have their baby in America. Because that baby then becomes an anchor baby. That baby becomes a US Citizen. That doesn't make any sense. And by the way, most of the other countries on Earth don't have that policy. If you sneak into another country illegally, most other countries don't make them a citizen of that country. It is an accident of American history that our law has done that. And so for more than a decade, I've advocated for ending birthright citizenship. Now, Ben, there is an open legal debate about how you can end birthright citizenship. There are some legal scholars who argue it can only be done through a constitutional amendment. And the reason is part of the predicate for birthright citizenship is the language of the 14th Amendment that talks about granting citizenship to people born in America. Now, there's a phrase in the 14th amendment which is subject to the jurisdiction thereof. And legal scholars argue back and forth. Some say you can only change birthright citizenship through a constitutional amendment. If that's the case, we should have an amendment because it's a policy that is foolish. Others say Congress can pass legislation to end birthright citizenship because someone who comes here illegally is not subject to the jurisdiction thereof, is not subject to American jurisdiction, but rather came here illegally. I've introduced legislation to end birthright citizenship through legislation. What President Trump has done is he's tried to do it a third way, which is through an executive order. That's going to be a harder hurdle to get through. But he's trying to do it. And on the policy grounds, he is exactly right. So what happened is in this case, there was a lawsuit challenging President Trump's executive order purporting to eliminate birthright citizenship. And the district judge issued a nationwide injunction, a so called universal injunction. So ordinarily, courts have jurisdiction, have authority over the parties in front of them. So if you have two parties in a car wreck and they crash into each other and one party sues the other, the court has jurisdiction over those two parties to say, okay, you're at fault, you pay for the repairs, the medical bills of the person injured. That is called under the Constitution, Article 3 of the Constitution, courts are given jurisdiction over cases and controversies. So actual disputes between real people. What the district judge did in this case is issued an injunction prohibiting Donald Trump and prohibiting the entire federal government from enforcing the birthright citizenship executive Order against anybody, not just against the parties in front of the court, but 330 million people in this country. The court said, you cannot enforce this against anybody. It is a universal injunction. That is something that for the first hundred plus years of our country never occurred. Universal injunctions began occurring more frequently, but not that much more frequently. There have been over 40 universal injunctions issued against Donald Trump in the first five months of his presidency. Now, how does that compare to the historical record? There are more universal injunctions that have been issued against President Trump than were issued in the entire 20th century from 1900 to 2000. There have been more in the last five months than there were in those hundred years. There have been more universal injunctions issued against President Trump than were issued against all eight years of George W. Bush, all eight years of Barack Obama, and all four years of Joe Biden. Five months. Trump has even more than that. It has been an abuse of power. And as you noted, I have been very vocal. I've been laying out the case. I chaired a Judiciary Committee hearing focused on exactly this abuse of power. This is the next wave of lawfare. During the last four years, we saw Democrat prosecutors indicting Donald Trump. That was using the courts to attack their political enemy to try to stop the voters from re electing Donald Trump. That didn't work. They failed. Once President Trump was reelected, this was the next iteration of lawfare. Get Democrat attorneys general, get left wing radical groups to go seek out radical district judges put on the bench by Joe Biden and Barack Obama to issue injunctions and shut down the entire Trump agenda. Because, and understand these Democrat attorneys general, they don't believe in democracy. They don't believe the voters have a right to decide this is what we want and to elect someone to carry it out. Instead, they want courts to stand in the way. Well, you and I talked about on an earlier podcast what I thought was likely here and what I predicted on this podcast. As I said, I think the Supreme Court is going to rein in universal injunctions. The Supreme Court's gonna make clear this is an abuse of power. And so I was really optimistic because in terms of the tools we have to reign in universal injunctions, the Supreme Court acting is by far the best. Well, on Friday, they did. Their decision was fantastic. It was 6, 3. The decision was written by Amy Coney Barrett. It is the most important opinion she has written in her tenure on the court. And it is very strong. It makes clear that individual district judges do not have the legal authority. They don't have the jurisdiction to issue universal injunctions. That is a massive victory for the rule of law, and it is a massive blow against the lawfare that the radical left is waging against President Trump.
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, no doubt about it. And that wasn't the only victory that came down. Another one was a free speech coalition versus Paxton. And this was a case out of Texas where the Supreme Court came down six to three, and they held that Texas AIDS verification law, where you have to verify your age to be on a pornographic website, is in fact, constitutional. This is really a huge, I think, build off to something that you worked so hard on that there was bipartisan support for, which was the Take It Down Act. And this really coupled with that is a significant move by the United States to protect kids under the age of 18.
Senator Ted Cruz
That's exactly right. Ben, you and I are both parents. You and I are both dads. It's scary to be a parent right now because our kids, when our kids get to be teenagers, we give them phones, and phones are just this portal to everything evil and horrible in the world. The pressures that are on our kids. When you and I were young, the biggest thing you had to worry about was the kid down the street punching you in the nose and giving you a bloody nose. And that wasn't fun. But. But it didn't end your life. Your nose healed and you were fine. Today our kids deal with, they deal with sexual predators online that they deal with social media pushing all sorts of negative content to them, pushing self harm, pushing suicidal ideation, pushing substance abuse, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, pushing body image. Look, I'm the dad of two daughters, and there's so much garbage online telling young girls, you're too fat, you're too ugly, you're this, you're that. And it does real damage. And depression, anxiety, all the pressures that are directed at kids. And one of the pressures that are directed at kids is there is so much sexual content that is just bombarding children and bombarding sometimes young kids. And so the state of Texas passed a law, I think it's a very common sense law that says if you have a site that is putting pornography online, that you have to verify if the users are over 18 or not, that you should not be pushing out porn to kids. And listen, when it comes to questions of free speech, I'm very libertarian. I think adults have a right to speak. And if they want to go back and forth on issues like this, adults can. But pushing porn to kids is wrong. And children, the content now is just. It is graphic, it is grotesque. And it bombards our kids. And so Texas passed a law that said, if you want to push it to adults, you can, but you can't push it to kids. And there was a lawsuit. There was a lawsuit that said, look, we have a right to give 5 year olds graphic pornography. And the Supreme Court, 6, 3 Clarence Thomas wrote the majority opinion, said, no, there's nothing in the First Amendment that says you have the right to push pornography to young children. And states have a reasonable interest in protecting kids. I think that's a common sense victory. And on free speech, I'm a free speech absolutist, but I also think there is room for protecting children when it comes to adults. Adults are welcome to consume all sorts of content, but there's no reason 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 year olds should be seeing all the garbage that's there. I'm really gratified. This was an important decision.
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, it really was. And finally, the other one that you mentioned earlier, this one for me, is so important for parental rights and getting parental rights back in our public schools, because there was a massive fight where parents were saying we should be able to opt our kids out of this LGBTQ curriculum. There was a lawsuit. It went to the Supreme Court. It favored on the side of parents six to three. This was massive for so many parents that are concerned about their kids being indoctrinated by the radical left.
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah. This case arose out of Montgomery county in Maryland. And Montgomery county has a very diverse population. And the Montgomery County School board, unfortunately, is one of the more woke school boards in America. And so they put in place an aggressive LGBTQ curriculum, and they mandated it. And we're not talking high schoolers. We're talking about young kids, kids kindergarten through fifth grade. And they pushed content that was pushing LGBT content, that was pushing transgender content to little children, 5, 6, 7, 8 year olds. And a group of parents said, hey, this is wrong. A group of parents. And they included Catholics, they included Muslims. They said, we don't want our school indoctrinating, brainwashing our kids that you think it's great to be gay, to be transgender. You think it's great, like, if you're a boy one day, you think you're a girl. It's not the school's job to tell our five year olds. That's your ideology. And so they sued. And the school board said, basically, go jump in a lake. We're going to indoctrinate your kids, and you have no right. And on appeal, the. Well, the district court and the court of Appeals both ruled against the parents and said they had no right. And it went to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court 63 upheld the right of the parents to opt out of that curriculum. And the court said because it has long recognized the rights of parents direct the religious upbringing of their children, the court concluded that the parents are likely to succeed on the claim that the board's policies unconstitutionally burdens their religious exercise. Justice Alito wrote the majority opinion for a 6:3 court and they said that parents rights are violated when the government, quote, substantially interferes with their children's religious development. And so this is a great protection for parental rights. Look, parents ought to be in charge of what is being taught to their kids. It's also a great victory for religious liberty. If a parent wants to teach kids to embrace a radical agenda, whether on LGBT or anything else, a parent has a right to do that. But the school system should not be indoctrinating children, in particular young children, kindergarteners is what this case was about. And so this is a big victory. Three big victories for our constitutional rights, for common sense. And all three of them were six three out of the Supreme Court.
Ben Ferguson
Six three. Massive, massive win there. I just am so thankful. You talk about elections having consequences and these fights are worth it. These are three massive changes, major victories. And remember, these Supreme Court justices were picked years or decades ago. It's why presidential elections are so important. Because when things like this happen, you need a conservative court that actually looks at the law and interprets it the right way. And this is where all that hard work for so many people that went out and campaigned for people like you and others paid off. So congrats to everyone listening that votes in these elections. And this is why, you know, elections have consequences and presidencies have legacies. And this is finally where we're seeing some major, major victories and that are protecting the rule of law and protecting parental rights as we just went through there and protecting kids. Don't forget we do this show Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hit that subscribe or auto download button on this fourth of July week as well. Be safe and have so much fun with your family. We'll be back here on Wednesday morning.
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Karen Kilgariff
Georgia from My favorite Murder thanks to Hyundai, we got to take a post show drive in the Ionic five.
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We had snacks, laughs and we even recorded a special episode featuring some unforgettable multiple car themed stories.
Karen Kilgariff
Take a listen. I'm going to tell you a story today, Karen. It's about a pivotal role that cars played in none other than the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
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Okay, well, yes, it's right there in the title, right? This episode is brought to you by the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5.
Rodney Williams
I'm Rodney Williams. And I'm Travis Holloway. Welcome to the wealthbreak Podcast, a real conversation about finance. Let's be honest, building wealth doesn't look the same for everyone.
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I feel like sometimes being broke is a cycle and that we might have.
Rodney Williams
To revisit that and we're not stopping at success stories.
Karen Kilgariff
What happens when it doesn't go right?
Senator Ted Cruz
How do you cope with it?
Rodney Williams
Because wealth isn't just about money. It's about creating a life where you thrive and help others do the same. Listen to the Wealth Break podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
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Verdict with Ted Cruz: Episode Summary Release Date: June 30, 2025
In this episode of "Verdict with Ted Cruz," hosted by Senator Ted Cruz and co-host Ben Ferguson from Premiere Networks, the discussion centers around significant legislative and judicial developments impacting the United States. The episode delves into the advancement of the highly anticipated "One Big Beautiful Bill" in the Senate and highlights three major Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decisions that mark substantial victories for conservative principles, particularly in limiting nationwide injunctions and protecting parental rights.
Passage in the Senate: The episode kicks off with the news that the One Big Beautiful Bill has successfully moved forward in the Senate following a closely contested vote. Senator Cruz states:
[02:56] Senator Ted Cruz: "Late Saturday night there was a major vote to move forward the One Big Beautiful Bill. The vote passed. The vote was 51 to 49. All Republicans except two voted to move it forward."
Details and Key Provisions: Senator Cruz provides an in-depth overview of the bill, emphasizing its alignment with President Trump's agenda and its multifaceted approach to governance. Key components include:
Tax Cuts: The bill seeks to avoid a $4 trillion tax increase by renewing the 2017 Trump tax cuts, including provisions such as no taxes on tips, Social Security, and overtime.
[06:09] Senator Ted Cruz: "This bill includes no taxes on tips. That's my legislation. We’re going to get it passed. It also includes no taxes on Social Security and no taxes on overtime. Both of those are huge working-class, blue-collar victories."
Border Security: Allocation of $150 billion towards securing the U.S. border, building the wall, hiring additional Border Patrol and ICE agents, and deploying advanced technology.
[06:09] Senator Ted Cruz: "There’s $150 billion in funding to secure the border, to build the wall, to hire more Border Patrol agents, to hire more ICE agents, to deploy more technology at the border."
Military Investment: Another $150 billion dedicated to rebuilding the military, investing in technologies like hypersonics, and countering adversaries such as China.
[06:09] Senator Ted Cruz: "Another $150 billion to rebuild the military, to invest in defeating China, defeating our adversaries, to invest in hypersonics, to invest in the next generation of military defense."
Telecommunications: Auctioning 800 megahertz of spectrum to the private sector to generate over $100 billion in revenue and foster advancements in 6G technology.
[06:09] Senator Ted Cruz: "Auctioning off spectrum... will produce over $100 billion in real revenue to the taxpayers, money that will pay down the deficit, pay down the debt... and unleash billions of dollars of private sector investment."
Education Reforms: Introduction of the most significant federal school choice provision, allowing parents to direct their children's education according to their preferences.
[06:09] Senator Ted Cruz: "School choice is the civil rights issue of the 21st century."
Invest America Accounts: Creation of private investment accounts for every child in America, fostering long-term financial growth and capitalistic ownership.
[06:09] Senator Ted Cruz: "Invest America accounts will create a private investment account for every child in America, allowing family and employers to contribute and invest in the S&P 500."
Procedural Context and Predictions: Senator Cruz discusses the procedural hurdles, such as unlimited amendments proposed by Democrats aiming to derail the bill. He predicts a prolonged Senate session extending into early Monday morning but remains optimistic about the bill’s passage.
[17:11] Senator Ted Cruz: "I think we're going to get it done. I don't know if it'll be signed into law by July 4th, but I think if the Senate gets it done on Monday, there's a real chance the House will come back and just pass the bill."
The podcast shifts focus to three pivotal Supreme Court decisions delivered in the latest term, all of which were 6-3 rulings favoring conservative viewpoints.
This decision addresses the overreach of federal courts in issuing universal injunctions that affect millions beyond the immediate parties involved.
[23:21] Senator Ted Cruz: "The Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. Casa dramatically reined in the ability of district courts to issue nationwide injunctions... This is a massive victory for the rule of law."
Significance: The ruling restricts courts from issuing injunctions that apply broadly across the country, thereby preventing judicial overreach and preserving executive actions from unilateral interference.
The Supreme Court upheld Texas' law requiring age verification for access to pornographic websites, emphasizing the state's role in protecting minors from inappropriate content.
[30:43] Senator Ted Cruz: "The Supreme Court held that Texas' age verification law is constitutional, asserting the state's reasonable interest in protecting children."
Implications: This decision underscores the balance between free speech rights and protecting minors from exposure to harmful content. It aligns with efforts to safeguard youth from online predators and explicit material.
The Court ruled in favor of parents seeking the right to opt out their children of mandated LGBTQ curricula in schools, reinforcing parental authority over educational content.
[34:12] Senator Ted Cruz: "The Supreme Court upheld the right of parents to opt out of aggressive LGBTQ curriculum, concluding that the school board's policies unconstitutionally burdened their religious exercise."
Impact: This landmark ruling affirms parents' rights to control their children's education, particularly in sensitive and potentially indoctrinating areas. It represents a significant victory for religious liberty and parental autonomy.
Senator Cruz reflects on the broader implications of these legislative and judicial victories, emphasizing their alignment with conservative values and the “America First” agenda. He highlights the importance of a conservative judiciary in upholding constitutional rights and limiting governmental overreach.
[15:59] Senator Ted Cruz: "Reconciliation is the main way to get around the filibuster... This bill has massive victories and President Trump is all in behind this bill."
Cruz also touches upon the strategic importance of these successes in building momentum for future legislative efforts and reinforcing the conservative legislative agenda.
This episode of "Verdict with Ted Cruz" underscores a pivotal moment in American politics, marked by the Senate's progression of a comprehensive legislative package and the Supreme Court's reinforcement of conservative legal principles. Senator Cruz and Ben Ferguson provide listeners with a thorough analysis of these developments, emphasizing their long-term benefits for tax policy, border security, military strength, education, and parental rights. The discussions not only celebrate these victories but also set the stage for ongoing legislative and judicial efforts to shape the nation's future according to conservative ideals.
Notable Quotes:
Senator Ted Cruz on the Senate Vote:
"[02:56] Senator Ted Cruz: "All Republicans except two voted to move it forward."
On Preventing Tax Increases:
"[06:09] Senator Ted Cruz: "This bill is the principal vehicle to advance President Trump's agenda... avoid a $4 trillion tax increase."
Addressing Judicial Overreach:
"[23:21] Senator Ted Cruz: "The Supreme Court’s decision... is a massive victory for the rule of law."
Protecting Parental Rights:
"[34:12] Senator Ted Cruz: "Parents ought to be in charge of what is being taught to their kids."
This structured and detailed summary encapsulates the key discussions and insights from the episode, providing a comprehensive overview for those who have not listened to the podcast.