In his quest to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) has turned to some pretty desperate campaign tactics. Congress just passed and is the Building Chips in America Act. After the bill passed the House, however, Allred took credit for it, and even unnecessarily slammed the senator in the process, despite how the current version of the bill is now the Kelly-Cruz amendment.
Allred declared that the House passing such a bill, specifically "our bill," was a "win for Texas!" He also went for some bipartisan praising, noting it was "Thanks to a team from both sides of the aisle, we got this done." However, Allred still felt the need to insert partisan politics by claiming "Ted Cruz is trying to claim credit. Classic Ted acting like a 'me guy.'"
A win for Texas! The House passed our bill, the Building Chips in America Act, to streamline permitting and advance CHIPS Act projects. Thanks to a team from both sides of the aisle, we got this done.
— Colin Allred (@ColinAllredTX) September 24, 2024
Ted Cruz is trying to claim credit. Classic Ted acting like a “me guy.”
It's not merely that Cruz "is trying to claim credit... acting like a 'me guy,'" though. Again, the current version is named after the senator, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) referred to as the Kelly-Cruz amendment.
Cruz, along with Kelly and Reps. Scott Peters (D-CA) and Jen Kiggans (R-VA) received a shout out from Samsung's X account.
Allred's post was swarmed with close to 300 replies, with many sharing Samsung's post.
#Samsung applauds the passage of the Building Chips in America Act ensuring US innovation continues to surge! A BIG thank you to @SenMarkKelly @SenTedCruz @RepScottPeters @JenKiggans for your bi-partisan leadership on this legislation.
— SamsungDC (@SamsungDC) September 23, 2024
Stop lying, Colin. This isn't "your" bill. But don't take our word for it, take Samsung's! https://t.co/X99bkbZlkt
— Team Cruz (@TeamTedCruz) September 24, 2024
Colin, Samsung is literally GIVING him credit--because it's his bill. https://t.co/HSncUhQnBL
— Darin Miller (@DarinBMiller) September 24, 2024
Cruz himself weighed in from his X account earlier on Wednesday, also sharing coverage from Brad Slager at our sister site of RedState.
The senator called it "Utterly bizarre" that Allred " is claiming that the Kelly-Cruz bill that passed this week is actually HIS bill," making clear it's "a blatant falsehood."
His bill also included a copy of the bill, highlighting how Kelly introduced it for himself and Cruz.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 25, 2024
Slager went for the "political desperation" angle in his piece as well, and highlighted how Allred is taking a page out of Vice President Kamala Harris' playbook:
Congress just passed a bill to send to the White House that is an extension of the CHIPS Act, meant to provoke more domestic production of technology. The Building Chips In America Act will see to it that federal regulations and other environmental roadblocks will be addressed and bypassed smoothly to allow for the building of more production facilities and creating scores of new jobs. And Colin Allred is here to take credit.
...Now, today, much like the mercurial Kamala Harris, he seems adept at glomming onto the issues of others in an expedient fashion for the election season. The latest is even more audacious, and more hilariously disproven.
Congress just passed a bill to send to the White House that is an extension of the CHIPS Act, meant to provoke more domestic production of technology. The Building Chips In America Act will see to it that federal regulations and other environmental roadblocks will be addressed and bypassed smoothly to allow for the building of more production facilities and creating scores of new jobs. And Colin Allred is here to take credit.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo also endorsed Cruz's amendment last October when she went before the Senate Commerce Committee, where Cruz is the ranking member.
As they discussed clearing "hurdles... to CHIPS projects," Cruz read back Raimondo's previous statements about how such an amendment "could help a lot," as she encouraged Congress to pass the amendment.
Raimondo reiterated the benefits of the bipartisan amendment, as she also thanked Cruz for his "leadership on that," a point she repeated, especially when it comes to the "national security imperative projects."
"We do need to--which your amendment would do--streamline the process, speed the process, make the process more efficient and user friendly," the secretary made clear.
WATCH: @SecRaimondo endorses @SenTedCruz's amendment to NDAA to streamline permitting process for new semiconductor projects:
— Senate Commerce Republicans (@SenateCommerce) October 4, 2023
"we do need to -- which your amendment would do -- streamline the process, speed the process, make the process more efficient and user friendly..." pic.twitter.com/E5te8uIjfV
The timing of such a hearing speaks to another detail about the timeline of the bill, and who is really responsible for it. Slager's piece mentioned a Monday press release from Allred's office, "Allred Legislation to Streamline Federal Permitting for Microchip Projects Passes House With Bipartisan Support."
"That is a telling detail to derail Allred’s claim to this bill. The first thing to note is that it is not going to the Senate. This is because that would be the chamber where this bill originated, beginning last summer. It was written in July of 2023 and did not arrive in the House until that December, so we can see how calling this the 'Allred Legislation' is already a stretch," Slager explained.
The bill has been sent over to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it. "The Cruz-Kelly legislation will mean tens of thousands of good-paying jobs and hundreds of billions in new investments for the Lone Star State," Cruz is quoted in saying in a press release from Kelly's office. "It's a great victory for jobs in Texas."
This isn't the only desperate tactic from Allred as of late, though. Slager mentions how the Democrat has tried to claim he supports border security, and in contrast to Cruz.
"Where's the Cruz bill? Where's the Cruz bill over the more than decade plus that he's been in the United States Senate? Why has he not been a part of the efforts to secure the border?" Allred even asked in a recent interview with Fox26. As it turns out, Cruz actually sponsored the Senate version of HR 2- the Secure the Border Act, which passed the House in May of last year.
In that same interview, as Madeline covered, Allred even went after Alexis Nungaray, the mother of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was allegedly raped and killed by illegal immigrants. The victim's mother has been a supporter of Cruz for his tough stance on border security, and as he's introduced the Justice for Jocelyn Act.
For all of Allred's desperate tactics, and despite how Democrats have their sights set on this race as a potential seat for them to pick up, the Senate race out of Texas is still considered to be "Lean" or "Likely Republican."
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