Senator Ted Cruz is under fire once again for vacationing abroad during a natural disaster in his home state.
Over the weekend, as catastrophic floods hit central Texas and claimed over 100 lives, Cruz was seen sightseeing in Athens, Greece.
Photos of the Texas senator and his wife, Heidi, touring the Parthenon on Saturday evening were released by The Daily Beast, sparking outrage.
Highlights
- Senator Ted Cruz vacationed in Greece as the catastrophic Texas floods killed over 100 people back home.
- Multiple flights from Athens to Texas were available before Cruz’s actual return, raising questions about the timing of his trip.
- Cruz recently supported cutting emergency funding, including NOAA’s weather forecasting budget.
- The National Weather Service faced vacancies and outdated systems amid the flood, with officials promising imminent upgrades.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz was vacationing in Greece while deadly floods swept his state
Image credits: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
The images came 24 hours after flash floods tore through Texas, including through Camp Mystic, where at least 27 girls and their counselors died in the floodwaters, with more still missing.
Cruz’s office released a statement defending the trip, saying it was a pre-planned family vacation and that the senator flew back to Texas “as fast as humanly possible.”
“The Senator was already in the middle of preplanned family vacation travel overseas when the flooding occurred on July 4,” Cruz’s office said in the statement.
Cruz immediately contacted state officials, as well as U.S. President Donald Trump, and booked a flight home.
“Given the time difference, he left Athens on Sunday morning and was back in Texas that night. And he was in Kerrville on the ground early Monday morning,” his office added.
However, The Daily Beast reported that numerous flights were flying out from Greece that Cruz could have boarded before the one he took.
These included multiple flights flying from Athens to San Antonio on July 4 and July 5, after the floods hit. Even in the event of the flights being full, alternative flight options were leaving Athens on Saturday morning and landing in San Antonio that evening via Chicago, Atlanta, or Washington, D.C.
Considering the seriousness of the floods, there were more flights available Friday.
The senator had traveled to Athens on Thursday after voting in the Senate to pass Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
Image credits: The White House/ Flickr
The Daily Beast spoke to an eyewitness who saw the senator at the Parthenon.
“He was with his family and a lone security guard,” the eyewitness said. “As he walked past us, I simply said, ‘20 kids dead in Texas and you take a vacation?’
“He sort of grunted and walked on. His wife shot me a dirty look. Then they continued on with their tour guide.”
Cruz’s office responded to The Daily Beast’s story, calling the story “A bull*** piece published by a bull*** rag outlet with no credibility, and with no regard for the tragedy in Texas.”
This is not the first time Cruz has come under fire.
In 2021, during a severe winter storm that left millions of Texans without power, Cruz and his family were on a trip to Cancun, Mexico. At the time, he claimed he was only accompanying his daughters at their request.
Cruz also came under renewed fire this week in a separate controversy, after a fiery interview with Tucker Carlson aired online.
Carlson accused Cruz of backing military escalation against Iran without knowing basic facts about the country, calling into question the senator’s credibility on foreign affairs.
Before the flooding, Cruz was scrutinized for his foreign policy stance
Speaking at a press briefing in Kerr County on Monday, Cruz addressed the latest tragedy.
“The fact that you have girls asleep in their cabins when the floodwaters are rising—something went wrong there. We’ve got to fix that and have a better system of warning to get kids out of harm’s way,” he said.
He also answered questions about whether ‘weather modification’ played a role in the flooding.
“To the best of my knowledge, there is zero evidence of anything related to anything like weather modification. Look, the internet can be a strange place. People can come up with all sorts of crazy theories,” he said.
The flooding in Texas, particularly along the Guadalupe River, has sparked a broader debate about the role of federal agencies and whether recent government cuts have contributed to the death toll.
Image credits: Jim Vondruska/Getty Images
Many blame recent cuts to federal emergency funding for the slow response, with agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Weather Service (NWS), which lead the response to natural disasters, stretched thin.
Cruz played his part in the agencies’ budget cuts.
Before leaving for his holiday, he ensured a reduction in funding to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), whose goal is to improve future weather forecasting of events.
Cruz inserted language into the Republicans’ ‘Big Beautiful’ reconciliation bill that eliminates a $150m fund to “accelerate advances and improvements in research, observation systems, modeling, forecasting, assessments, and dissemination of information to the public” around weather forecasting.
Recent budget cuts have heavily affected emergency agencies working in climate crisis management
Image credits: Jim Vondruska/Getty Images
Some $50m in grants to study climate-related impacts on oceans, weather systems, and coastal ecosystems was also cut from NOAA.
Cassidy DiPaola, communications director of Fossil Free Media, told The Guardian that Cruz has spent years limiting climate research, which weakened systems meant to warn and protect the public.
“That’s made disasters like this weekend’s flood in Texas even more deadly,” she said.
“Now he’s doubling down, pushing through even more cuts in the so-called big beautiful bill. Texans are dead and grieving, and Cruz is protecting big oil instead of the people he’s supposed to represent.”
Cruz responded to criticism during the press conference on Monday, saying, “Some are eager to point at the National Weather Service and saying that cuts there led to a lack of warning.”
He continued that the warnings went out hours before the flood became a true emergency.
Democrats have also pointed to the vacancies at NWS’s San Antonio office. Since earlier this year, the role of warning coordination meteorologist has been open at the NWS. This comes after Paul Yura, who previously held the position, accepted an offer from the Trump administration to retire.
The position plays a critical role in emergency communication.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was sent by Trump to assess the damage, defended the agency, saying they sent notifications about the flash flood and “gave as much time as they could with the tools that they have.”
She also confirmed that the agency’s outdated systems are in the process of being upgraded as part of a long-overdue overhaul.
The agency is operating on an “ancient system that needed to be upgraded,” she said, promising that new technology will be installed soon.