U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is silhouetted as he speaks to members of the media on the day of a U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on federal boxing laws, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 22, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
A spat broke out between a couple of GOP senators while they were trying to pass their respective bills on the floor.
Sen. Rand Paul from Kentucky was trying to pass a bill that would give more land to a local Boys and Girls Club when fellow Republican Sen. Ted Cruz from Texas stepped in, according to an X post by Burgess Everett, the congressional bureau chief for Semafor.
Cruz was upset that Rand had shot down bills that passed in the Commerce Committee, which Cruz chairs. In particular, Cruz talked about a bill that would force internet-connected devices with cameras to have labels as a check on mass surveillance. Cruz said he would only pass Paul's bill alongside a "spy fridge bill," Everett wrote.
Paul's opposition to the bill led Cruz to call him "the only libertarian on Planet Earth that is fighting to have more surveillance," Everett reported.
Paul brought up that Cruz wanted to require AM radios in all cars and said that he shouldn't be comparing a bill for the Boys and Girls Club to a "nationwide regulation with fines and fees," according to Everett's post.
He asked Cruz to "tell us why you hate the Boys and Girls Club. Don't say you have to accept a regulation on refrigerators," per Everett, who mentioned that neither of the senators' bills passed.