The Republican also discusses federal funding for the F-35 program and the privatization of NASA
DALLAS — Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, knows he’s up against the clock, and there are only a limited number of hours and days before the end of the year.
So, he says he’s working very hard to get legislation passed out of the U.S. House that would protect victims against intimate deepfake nude images posted without permission. The bill has already been passed by the U.S. Senate.
Senator Cruz tells us he’s made a number of requests to House leadership to get it taken care of over the next week.
“If they put it up for a vote, it will pass. It will pass overwhelmingly. And the reason it will is because this is good policy and it’s addressing a very real problem,” Sen. Cruz argued on Inside Texas Politics.
Known as the “TAKE IT DOWN Act,” and inspired by a teenage victim from Aledo, the bipartisan legislation would protect victims of non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), both real and deepfake.
The legislation would not only make it a felony to post such imagery, but it would also force tech companies to remove the content.
“It gives you a legal right to get that garbage taken down,” the Republican told us.
If he doesn’t get it across the finish line this year, Sen. Cruz says you can bet they’ll get it passed next year.
And now that Republicans control the U.S. Senate 53 – 47, Cruz is in line to become the next chair of the powerful Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, where he says he’ll continue to focus on creating jobs.
On the subject of jobs, the Senator says he’ll continue to support the production of the F-35, built by Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth. That plant is one of the largest employers in North Texas.
Tech Titan Elon Musk, who will lead the new “Department of Government Efficiency” during the Trump Administration, has recently suggested federal funding should be cut off for the F-35, with those dollars supporting next-gen technology such as drones instead.
While Senator Cruz says he thinks Musk is onto to something in terms of investing in next-gen tech, the F-35 remains an American advantage.
“There is a lot of advanced weaponry that we need to be investing in. But I think the F-35 gives us an advantage over every one of our enemies across the globe,” said the Republican.
Senator Cruz also doesn’t think NASA, or even part of it, will be privatized anytime soon for many of the same reasons, jobs and national security.
The Republican argues that it is wrong to view NASA and commercial space as competing with one another.
Cruz says he’s a huge advocate of commercial space, as it’s the only way to get the billions of dollars needed to get back to the Moon and Mars. However, he says that doesn’t change the essential role NASA plays in space exploration.
“I think NASA is critically important to our national security. It’s critically important to the country. Johnson Space Center in Houston is massively important, a hugely important employer in Texas,” he said.