Ted Cruz tears down Washington: 'There is a corruption in this town…\

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Monday blasted both political parties for quickly passing a huge $1.1 trillion spending bill that didn't address GOP objections to President Barack Obama's immigration move, and didn't give anyone enough time to understand what was in the bill.

"There is a corruption in this town that is bipartisan," Cruz said on the Mark Levin Show Monday night. "That is, Democrat and Republicans, they get together and they fight for those who walk the corridors of power, and they leave working men and women out on the street."

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) let loose on Washington in a radio interview with Mark Levin Monday night.
Image: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call,Inc.

Cruz was one of the Republicans who led the fight to get a vote related to Obama's immigration plans, but just 22 Republicans voted with Cruz on the question of whether the spending bill violated the Constitution for failing to defund the White House initiative. The bill then passed without giving anyone a chance to make any changes to a bill that Cruz said is filled with "corporate welfare and crony capitalism," and "payoffs to lobbyists and K Street."

"It does everything except honor the commitments that Republicans made all over this country to the men and women who got elected," he said.

Cruz said that in his first two years in Washington, he's been told not to worry about keeping promises to voters.

"They view campaigning as what you say back home, and governing — and usually governing, their voice drops an octave when they talk about governing — that means ignoring everything you told your constituents you would do," he said. "They basically drape their arm around you and say something to the effect of, 'Now lad, that's what you say back home. You don't actually do it.' "

Cruz blamed a "herd mentality" that makes it impossible to achieve anything important in Congress, and said members of Congress essentially keep agreeing to fund each other's projects, without making any effort to trim waste.

"You know, the way you get bipartisan agreement in this town is you get everyone to sit around a table, and you say, 'I'll spend for your project, your project, your project, another $1 trillion, we're done,' " he said. "And that's how we bankrupt our kids and grandkids, that's how we get $18 trillion in debt."

In late November, the national debt hit $18 trillion for the first time, and in the last several days has hovered just under that mark.

Cruz's attack on Washington came a few days after several members — including some Republicans — criticized Cruz and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) for forcing a weekend vote that didn't change the spending bill. While Cruz and Lee said they were glad to put senators on the record on immigration, their critics slammed the two senators for going against GOP leaders.

Cruz said on the radio that he wouldn't attack those senators back.

"If they want to come after me, fine. Knock yourself out, they can come after me. That is not my concern," he said. "My concern is, we need to honor our oath of office. We need to defend the Constitution."