Ted Cruz pushes bill seeking police escorts for US lawmakers at airports

Ted Cruz at Cancún airport in February 2021. Photograph: Reuters

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 one step closer to securing police escorts for lawmakers at airports.

Under an amendment to the Federal Aviation Authority Reauthorization bill introduced by Cruz last month, 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”.

Last month, Cruz told Politico of “serious security threats facing public officials”, adding: “It’s important that we take reasonable measures to keep everyone safe.”

There have been prominent cases of lawmakers being accosted at airports but Kevin Murphy, of the Airport Law Enforcement Agencies Network, told Politico Cruz’s amendment would prove “a burden to airport police agencies” he said were not adequately funded.

Despite such criticism, Cruz’s amendment has survived in the FAA bill, which awaits votes in the Senate and the US House. If passed, it will fund the FAA for four years.

Melissa Braid, a spokesperson for Senate commerce committee Republicans, among whom Cruz is the ranking member, told the Dallas Morning News: “The airport security amendment was drafted in a bipartisan manner to address the growing number of serious threats against justices, judges, public officials and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

“It passed out of committee unanimously by voice vote and was included in the Senate’s bipartisan FAA Reauthorization bill.

“With rising security incidents at airports, this amendment ensures that when law enforcement determines a threat exists, reasonable security measures will be taken to keep everybody safe.”

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

“Cancún Cruz wants to flee Texas in secret,” said Lose Cruz, a Democratic political action committee supporting Colin Allred, an NFL player turned US congressman now challenging Cruz for his Senate seat.

Matt Angle, founder of the Lone Star Project, an anti-Republican Texas group, said: “Ted Cruz is still chapped over being caught sneaking to Cancún. He can’t get a damn thing done to improve the border or keep kids safe, but Ted figures out how to get private security covered by taxpayers. Self-serving. Soulless. Worthless.”