Our elected officials should be focused on making our country more prosperous and safe than when they took office. Instead it’s all just a song and dance to them.
And now a Democrat Senator sacrifices children’s safety for this sick political chess move.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, took to the Senate floor Wednesday to express his frustration after Sen. Cory Booker, D-NJ, blocked the passage of the Take It Down Act (S.4569) by unanimous consent.
The bipartisan bill, sponsored by Cruz and supported by more than half a dozen Democratic senators, aims to protect children by imposing criminal penalties for distributing explicit images of minors, including AI-generated “deepfakes” that resemble them.
Booker’s office hinted that the New Jersey Democrat’s move was politically motivated, aimed at preventing Cruz from scoring “political points” ahead of his re-election bid in November, where he is heavily favored against Rep. Colin Allred, D-TX, a close ally of Booker.
One of the most vocal supporters of Cruz’s legislation is Francesca Mani, now 15, who became a victim of AI-generated explicit images created by male classmates in a vicious form of so-called “revenge p*rn.” Mani, notably, is a resident of Booker’s own home state of New Jersey.
Cruz passionately urged his colleagues to unite behind what he called a “simple bipartisan common-sense step” to protect victims like Mani. “On behalf of the countless teenagers and others, who have been victimized by real, and by deepfake explicit images, I urge my colleagues to come together,” he said from the Senate floor.
Despite this plea, Booker was the only senator to object, offering a terse “I object,” with no further explanation.
Following the objection, Cruz expressed disappointment. “I am saddened that the senator from New Jersey chose to give no explanation for his objection,” he said, highlighting the silence from Booker’s side.
Booker, according to Cruz, failed to give any explanation to his own constituent, Francesca, for why she’s being denied justice. “He had an opportunity to explain his rejections, you know what he said? Nothing,” Cruz emphasized.
Cruz went on to note that Booker had nearly two weeks to review the bill but waited until an hour before it was set to pass to raise objections.
“He said last night, he said, ‘Ted, I haven’t had time to read the bill.’ [It had] been circulated to his office two weeks earlier. But he said he had not had time to read the bill. I said, ‘Great, I’ll delay this for a day so you can read the bill.’
…
He said he had numerous substantive objections. If he does, we heard none of them. Not a word of it.”
In an emotional conclusion, Cruz lamented that Booker’s constituents, and victims of this type of abuse nationwide, are being denied an explanation for such a critical legislative block.
“It makes me sad he doesn’t feel his constituents deserve any explanation for blocking legislation as important as this,” he said.
The Texas senator didn’t shy away from pointing out the political context, especially with Election Day just six weeks away.
“The obvious inference is that this objection is being made because we’ve got an election in less than six weeks,” he remarked, hinting at Booker’s potential partisan motivations.
Despite the disagreement, Cruz maintained that he still considers Booker a friend, but he hoped his actions weren’t politically driven.
“I sure hope he’s not standing up here denying victims of this abuse relief simply to score partisan political points.”
Reports from The Hill added that the clash is a sign that Democrats may be reluctant to hand Cruz any legislative wins ahead of the upcoming election.
Watch the full video here:
WATCH: Sen. Ted Cruz pushes for passage of TAKE IT DOWN Act https://t.co/av7THcvfWF
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) September 25, 2024
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