Ted Cruz Warns Biden Deliberately Attempting To Make 'Catastrophic Mistake'

Mr President senator from Texas reserving the right to object in September Democrats asked unanimous consent to the confirmation of Mr Martinez nusete I object it at the time I explained that President Biden has been pursuing a policy in Latin America that has given momentum to the hard left Pro Chavez Pro Castro anti-American movements across the hemisphere indeed I have explained at considerable length my deep opposition to the misguided foreign policy of President Biden and his administration this President this Administration is consistently shown weakness and appeasement to the enemies of America whether communist China or Russia or Iran or Venezuela while at the same time demonstrating deep animosity to friends and allies of America it's a foreign policy that I believe is precisely backwards if the objective were defending U.S national security interest president Trump the previous president frequently described his foreign policy as an America First foreign policy one of the best descriptions that can be given of President Biden and the Democrats foreign policy is an America last foreign policy every region on Earth has gotten worse more hostile to America and more dangerous in the two years that Joe Biden has been present and yet no region has been hurt more than Latin America President Biden came into office and immediately froze out pro-american governments in Latin America for example he went out of his way to undermine and to alienate the government of Colombian president Yvonne Duque he denied Duke a phone call for the first five months of the administration providing morale and momentum to Duke's domestic enemies and so the predictable result occurred the Colombian far left gained more and more momentum and a few months ago leftist Gustavo Petro took control of Colombia a former terrorist with a long record of Deep anti-American animosity since then things have only gotten worse the aftermath of recent elections Lula de Silva is set to take control of Brazil the largest country in Latin America and of course Biden immediately picked up the phone to call Lula to congratulate him I'll note during the same few days it took Biden a full week to call and congratulate Benjamin Netanyahu who had just won election to be the next prime minister of our dear friend and Ally Israel but for the Biden Administration they were thrilled to see an anti-American leftist like Lula in power and they were deeply dismayed to see a pro-american friend and Ally like Netanyahu in power just last week the Biden Administration announced that it was providing sanctions relief to the Maduro regime in Venezuela Mr President mark my words I believe this Administration is moving step by step systematically towards formally recognizing the Maduro regime that would be a catastrophic mistake I think the Biden Administration would do it expeditiously they do it today if they could but they know the political costs are high so instead they're advancing incrementally inch by inch right now they're starting to unwind sanctions on Venezuelan oil while continuing to stifle drilling here at home forcing American Energy producers to seek oil from dictators and enemies of America rather than produce high-paying jobs here in the United States and I might note that oil produced in the United States has produced much more cleanly emits less carbon emits less pollutants than does the foreign oil and yet the Biden foreign policy is such that they relish putting billions in the coffers of dictators back in September I said that the Senate badly needed to debate the trajectory and the likely consequences of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's disastrous Latin America policy and that the nomination of Mr Martinez who said that for executive director of the iadb was particularly problematic in this context Mr Martinez nusete has a long career of being a hard left partisan in Venezuela he served as a socialist Congressman during the tenure of Hugo Chavez his nomination is both an example of and if confirmed he would fuel the Biden administration's ongoing effort to drag Latin America to the far left to empower anti-American marxists throughout the region I just listened to the words of my friend and colleague the senator from Virginia claiming that in actuality Mr Martinez nusete was not the kind of Venezuelan socialists who supported Chavez he was a different kind of Venezuelan socialist he doesn't dispute that he's a Venezuelan socialist former Congressman but he says no he wasn't exactly of the same flavor of Chavez I will say I'm not particularly interested in slicing and dicing the varieties of socialists in Latin America operating in Chavez's Venezuela I'm opposed to former socialist congressmen of foreign Nations representing the United States of America in any context let a nut Loan in International Banks I will say my colleague from Virginia spoke movingly about the importance of the idb I agree we should have an American representative on that bank and that underscores the need for President Biden to withdraw this nomination and nominate someone with experience who would advocate for America and not for the far left in Latin America I'll note also that Mr Martinez nusete failed to advance favorably out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee because every single Republican in the committee voted against him and it was not just his record as a former socialist congressman one of the significant concerns was his deeply manifested hostility to religion and the people of faith that hostility was demonstrated in answers and written testimony provided by Mr Martinez who said they in response to questions that I asked him these answers demonstrated a bizarre and a disturbing hostility an antipathy for conservatives for people of faith and especially for conservative people of faith and let me note specifically what the concerns were I asked Mr Martinez who said the in writing about his views and to what extent Faith should be disentangled from development development often employs and is deeply involved with faith-based non-profits throughout the developing world here was his answer quote there should be no entanglement between government and religion that is a Bedrock constitutional principle for us in America I don't think any particular culture or religion is superior to others in terms of achieving socioeconomic development that answer was non-responsive and deeply confused so I asked more precisely for Mr Martinez who said to describe the role that Faith plays in Economic Development as a constraint and as a contributing factor here was his answer quote education and respect for human rights promoting social mobility and market economies is the key to development not faith for anyone involved in the efforts of the iadb and other International Banks engaged in development that is a bizarre answer because faith-based non-profits have played transformational roles in development it demonstrates sadly the kind of antipathy to people of faith that is becoming more and more common on the American left and apparently was the view of at least one former socialist congressman from Venezuela I do not believe this nominee is an appropriate nominee to represent the United States of America on this International Bank and therefore I object objection is heard

Channel: Forbes Breaking News

Views: 86,246

Keywords: Sen. Ted Cruz, President Biden, Senate

Id: 70KRsRQeVog

Length: 10min 21sec (621 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 21 2022