Sen. Ted Cruz Wednesday fired back at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's criticism of him over his comments about a Superstorm Sandy funding bill, referring to the governor as a "desperate" politician and dismissing his comments.
"I'm sorry there are politicians that are desperate to get their names in the news and saying whatever they need to do that," the Texas Republican, speaking to Fox News' "Fox & Friends" from a Houston-area rescue shelter. "We have a crisis on the ground of people who are hurting right now, people who are in arms way whose lives and families are in jeopardy as we speak. And I'll tell you, my focus, and I wish the focus of others would be, on saving the lives that are being threatened."
Earlier in the morning, Christie had complained on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program about comments Cruz had made the day before concerning the Sandy funding. At that point, Cruz said he voted against the measure for assistance for New Jersey and New York because the measure was at least two-thirds full of non-related spending.
"They did a fact check on that yesterday," the governor told MSNBC. "There was a Senate version of the bill that never passed that had a lot more spending. It got stripped out and almost all of the spending was for New York and New Jersey and some of the other areas that were affected for hurricane relief. He knows it."
Cruz should "stand up and say 'I was wrong in 2012,'" he continued. "It was the wrong thing to do."
Christie also accused Cruz of making up the numbers he'd quoted, and called him "despicable."
"Ted is particularly good at that," said Christie. "He made it up. You know it and I know it because it sounded good."
Cruz said he's been working to help coordinate search-and-rescue efforts, and when the storm finally passes, rebuilding will be a large long process, but he does think Congress will be united in getting victims the funds to which they're entitled.
"I know we have the commitment of the president," said Cruz. "For folks who are focused on raising political shots and snipes about the Sandy bill, facts matter. And a simple fact is that Sandy bill was over $50 billion and 70 percent of it was nonemergency. Only 30 percent of the money was emergency funding for victims of Sandy. Part of that was money for fisheries in Alaska."
Also on Wednesday, Cruz said in his visits to shelters, that he's finding people are doing well and are grateful to be safe.
"It's inspiring, given it is obviously deeply traumatic to lose your home, wedding pictures, and all sorts of things that are near and dear to your heart, and yet the sentiment over and over again I'm hearing, is people are saying 'thank God I'm alive, thank you God my kids are alive, and we're safe.'"
The needs at the shelters vary, but for the most part, people are showing up just with the clothes they were wearing when they were rescued.
Meanwhile, some people may be able to return to their homes today or tomorrow to start learning about their damages, and FEMA will be working to help people who need places to live find housing, said Cruz.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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