Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is the latest MAGA lawmaker seen at a Spring Break hotspot after members of Congress were sent on recess amid the ongoing government shutdown, which has left passengers stranded and federal workers without pay.
Cruz was pictured by TMZ waiting to board a flight Tuesday at Fort Lauderdale airport in South Florida, accompanied by police and security guards.
The outlet has been publishing photos of lawmakers on vacation as many federal workers impacted by the Department of Homeland Security shutdown continue to go without pay, and passengers missed flights after waiting in lines of up to five hours to pass through security at some airports.
It was not immediately clear what Cruz was doing in Fort Lauderdale or where he was going. TMZ reports that he traveled there after attending the CPAC convention in Dallas last week.
While Cruz is not the only member of Congress who has been seen relaxing in recent days amid the shutdown turmoil, it’s not the first occasion that the timing of his vacationing has been called into question.
He earned the nickname “Cancun Cruz” from a scandal in 2021 after he went to the Mexican holiday destination during a harsh winter storm, which left thousands of Texans without heat or water.
He later apologized and admitted it was “obviously a mistake.” And last July, Cruz was in Greece when deadly floods struck his home state, though his team said he promptly got on a flight home as soon as he heard.
The Independent has contacted Cruz’s office for comment.
Elsewhere, Sen. Lindsey Graham was also pictured walking around Disney World with a bubble wand toy, dining at Chef Mickey’s and standing in line for Space Mountain.
The South Carolina senator defended his trip to Disney World, telling TMZ he met some friends at the theme park after “meeting in South Florida on Friday with Trump official Steve Witkoff and others to talk about the possibility of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.”
“I voted seven times to fully fund the government. Call a Democrat,” Graham told the news outlet, saying he had returned to his home state by Sunday.
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California was also criticized for making a trip to Las Vegas, where TMZ obtained photos of him sitting in a casino. Garcia later said he was visiting his father.
Lawmakers aren’t due to return to Washington, D.C. until April 14.
The Homeland Security shutdown has become the longest in U.S. history, with internal Republican divisions and a two-week congressional recess leaving no clear path to a resolution.
While the rest of the federal government remains open, approximately 100,000 employees with the department now face the prospect of going without pay until the summer.
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