Republican senator, who flew to Mexico as Texas faced deadly cold snap, complains of ‘serious security threats’ to lawmakers

The Texas Republican senator Ted Cruz, who achieved viral infamy in 2021 when he was seen at Houston airport for a flight to Cancún even as his state faced a historic and deadly spell of cold weather, this week moved a step closer to securing police escorts for lawmakers at airports.

Under an amendment to the Federal Aviation Authority Reauthorization bill introduced by Cruz, members of Congress and other prominent officials, and some family and staff members, will be offered security escorts if they are deemed “currently … or previously … the subject of a threat, as determined by such applicable federal protective agency”.

If passed by the House and Senate, the bill will fund the FAA for four years.

But given Cruz’s scrape with viral fame over his flight to Mexico in February 2021 – a trip to join a family vacation he abandoned after one day, admitting his “obvious mistake” as tweets and memes proliferated – the senator faces criticism and mockery over his attempt to secure security guards for future airport trips.

  • ShepherdPie
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    9 months ago

    It doesn’t seem reasonable to need a security duty in a place that’s already considered high security. People are screened for anything dangerous by the TSA.

    • RedWeasel@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      In an ideal world that would be true, but if we were in an ideal world we wouldn’t need the security there in the first place. You can do a lot of damage to someone with just your body and there are a lot of people that are violent out in society.

      • ShepherdPie
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        9 months ago

        Maybe in the interest of safety, it would be best for everyone if we just kept Ted Cruz locked away from the public permanently, like in a bottomless pit or something.