Ted Cruz: “I am quite sympathetic to the concerns raised by the Senator from Oregon. He is right. There are threats against State…”

“I am quite sympathetic to the concerns raised by the Senator from Oregon. He is right. There are threats against State and local officials. Those threats are serious, and they deserve to be dealt with seriously. In my view, violence is never acceptable, and that is whether I agree with you politically or I disagree with you politically. We should debate civilly, with respect, with decency, and violence should never be the answer. So just as I did with his previous amendment, I extend my offer in the hearing we convene to consider the issue of State and local officials to consider how best to expand the protection. I am interested in expanding the protection to as wide a universe as is feasible, as is practicable, but that answer is not yet worked out. State and local officials is a universe that comprises tens of thousands, if not more people than that. We should have hearings and consider the effect before passing legislation that, if the bill got expanded, would engender an objection to this bill and kill the entire bill altogether. Because I don't want this body to do nothing and to fail to take a reasonable, commonsense step to protect the security of Members of Congress and their staffs and because I very much want to pass Senator Klobuchar's legislation--which I might note, Senator Klobuchar is a Democrat; I am a Republican. This is bipartisan legislation.”