In a Highly Tone-Deaf Remark, Ted Cruz Tells Americans Losing COVID-19 Unemployment Benefits To ‘Get a Job’

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has a message for the millions of Americans who had received emergency federal unemployment assistance due to the COVID-19 pandemic but lost those benefits when the program expired at the start of September. “Um, get a job?” he said in the typical, tone-deaf Ted Cruz style.

The Hill’s Dominick Mastrangelo reported that the flippant comment came “in a tweet sent late Monday night, [when] Cruz shared with his followers a headline from the Associated Press reading ‘Jobless Americans have few options as benefits expire.’” 

“There are millions of vacancies, and small businesses across the Nation are desperate for workers,” Cruz said in the tweet.

Mastrangelo reported that an estimated 9 million Americans lost their federal unemployment benefits following the Labor Day holiday weekend. Another 3 million people are expected to lose their additional $300 boost to state unemployment benefits in the coming months.

As we reported earlier this week, the end of pandemic unemployment benefits comes as unemployment rates for Black Americans in the country are again on the rise, with even college-educated applicants having increasing trouble landing new positions in the open job market.

Even with COVID-19 raging in many regions of the United States with lower-than-average vaccination rates, the White House said it has no plans to reinstate the expiring benefits.

As would be expected, Cruz’s tweet drew criticism from countless critics who couldn’t believe he would make such a comment. Among the many reacting to his quote: 

 

https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1435282672465719310

https://twitter.com/theneedledrop/status/1435251028576940032

 

Related: For more recent diversity and inclusion news, click here.

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