Two years ago, Texas senator Ted Cruz was criticized for not attending the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s annual legislative summit in Washington.
Two years later, Cruz was one of the summit’s keynote speaker on Wednesday, tailoring his remarks around a message of economic growth and predicting that the Congress will succeed in repealing and replacing Obamacare, implement key regulation reforms, pass transformative tax reform and fill the Supreme Court’s vacant seat.
“If we repeal Obamacare, if we get reg reform, if we get fundamental tax reform and confirm a strong Justice all in one year, 2017 will be a blockbuster year” Cruz told luncheon attendees. “There are a lot of rifts. It is not easy stitching together a coalition to get over the finish line. But I’m encouraged, because if we do all of that, the impact on each of your businesses should be profound. The impact of our objectives should be millions and millions of new jobs. It should be wages rising. It should be expanded opportunity for the next generation of kids, like my dad, washing dishes making fifty cents an hour, but with dreams of a better life.”
Cruz made sure to frame to start and end his economic message by connecting to his father’s immigrant experience from Cuba to Texas, and how his father had to learn English to advance. However, the Texas Republican did not address immigration policy or enforcement, a topic he focused more on last month at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Even though Cruz could not attend the USHCC summit in 2015, he was the first presidential candidate to participate in the organization’s Q&A forums during the primary season.
Cruz’s latest appearance happened on the same day that USHCC President Javier Palomarez announced that Hispanic business leaders will have meetings at the White House on Thursday.
Palomarez, one of President Trump’s most vocal Latino critics before the election, is now a member of the president’s National Diversity Coalition. Recently, Palomarez appeared on Latino USA to discuss why he is working with the Trump administration: