Jon Stewart rips Ted Cruz for rejecting veterans aid bill

So when Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) stated Stewart bought the invoice flawed and accused Democrats of taking part in a “funds trick” within the PACT invoice, which Cruz voted towards even though he supported Invoice and veterans, Stewart wasn’t having it.

“What Ted Cruz is describing is inaccurate, not true, bull —-,” Stewart stated in a video posted to Twitter.

Stewart mocked Cruz for arguing that Democrats moved “discretionary” spending within the invoice to “necessary.” Cruz referenced the fiscal coverage dispute first raised this month by Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.), who took problem with how the invoice would change accounting for about $400 billion in pre-existing veterans spending to make it exempt from annual congressional appropriations. Cruz was seen punching Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) on the Senate ground when Republicans blocked the invoice throughout a celebration that angered Democrats and veterans teams .

Stewart and Democrats rebutted Republicans’ claims, and the comic challenged Cruz on Twitter to particularly level out within the invoice the $400 billion “clean examine or unrelated bills that have been added/slipped.”

“Now, I am not a big-city, Harvard-educated lawyer, however I can learn,” Stewart stated in a mocking Southern accent. “It has all the time been obligatory spending, so the federal government can’t simply reduce their funding at any time. No gimmicks, no gimmicks, I have been there the entire time.

A consultant for Stewart didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Saturday. When requested to remark, Cruz’s spokesman Steve Visitor referred The Washington Submit to the senator’s video posted on Twitter Friday night time.

“Jon, you are a humorous man, and I admire your dedication to public coverage points. It is a good factor,” Cruz stated, saying he is a powerful supporter of the invoice and the nation’s veterans. “However if you wish to do it, the information matter.”

Senate Republicans block invoice to assist burn-out veterans

The back-and-forth is over a veterans well being care invoice that beforehand loved bipartisan assist. The PACT Act would dramatically change how the Division of Veterans Affairs offers with veterans who’ve been uncovered to poisonous substances by requiring VA to presume that sure sicknesses are associated to publicity to hazardous waste incineration, primarily centered on the query of the sources of combustion of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The invoice would take away the burden of proof for injured veterans.

However weeks after a model of the laws was authorised by the Senate in an 84-14 vote on June 16, the invoice met a distinct destiny shortly after the Home made modest modifications. Toomey claimed that the PACT Act authorizes $280 billion in new necessary spending — which isn’t topic to annual appropriations — and in addition converts the $400 billion in earlier authorizations from discretionary to necessary. The senator argued final month that the supply was a funds “trick” that might facilitate huge quantities of applicable new spending — a declare Democrats have rejected.

On Wednesday, 25 Republicans reversed their vote a month earlier. The ultimate vote was 55 to 42, in need of the 60 votes wanted to beat the filibuster. Three senators abstained.

Among the many Republicans who modified course was Cruz, whose punchline with Daines was met with backlash from liberals because it went viral on social media.

Democrats accused Republicans of voting towards the invoice in retaliation for a deal introduced by Senate Majority Chief Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin III (DW.Va.) that permits Democrats to maneuver ahead on an financial, well being and local weather package deal with out a Republican vote.

Stewart, who referred to as Republicans’ rejection of the measure a “punch,” took half in a media blitz this week on channels like CNN, Fox Information and Newsmax that had him ripping all 25 GOP senators for his or her change of coronary heart on the invoice. He took intention at Cruz on Friday throughout an look on MSNBC.

“Essentially the most despicable a part of all of it is watching on the Senate ground Ted Cruz bump his fist after which pat himself on the again once they blocked this invoice,” Stewart stated. He added that Toomey and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) have been “celebrating their victory over veterans with most cancers.”

Later that day, Cruz was approached by TMZ at Reagan Nationwide Airport about Stewart’s feedback.

“He talks in regards to the PACT legislation, which is a invoice that I assist. This can be a invoice that almost all senators assist,” Cruz advised the outlet. After mentioning the funds “trick” cited by Toomey, Cruz stated the invoice was “a part of the left’s out-of-control spending.”

In his expletive-laden video on Twitter, Stewart trolled Cruz and Republicans for suggesting the language was added to the invoice by Democrats “or spendthrift fairies.”

“That is nonsense,” Stewart stated. “There may be nothing within the invoice that’s unrelated to veterans’ spending. … It is for veterans who’ve suffered the well being results of burns and different toxins. That is it!”

Cruz, in a video of his personal, once more cited Toomey’s concern and accused Democrats of tweaking the invoice with “pork that can inflate inflation.”

“You’re flawed right here,” Cruz advised Stewart in a tweet.

Fox Information’ Jesse Watters joined Cruz in criticizing Stewart for what the host referred to as “stripped drama.”

“I am not going in charge Jon for not understanding all of the information,” Watters stated on his Friday present. “Sooner or later, let’s do that: I am going to do the analysis and Jon Stewart can do the farming. It is higher for everybody that method. »

Stewart tweeted that Cruz and Watters have been “making an attempt to rally the forces of misinformation to attempt to kill extra vets”. He once more challenged the Texas senator to “cross the invoice you already handed.”

“It isn’t a recreation”, Stewart wrote. “Actual folks’s lives are at stake…individuals who fought in your life.”

Eugene Scott and Mike DeBonis contributed to this report.