Cruz stumbles recalling agencies he’d cut

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) struggled to recall the five federal agencies he’d eliminate at Tuesday night’s GOP debate in Milwaukee.

In explaining how to pay for his tax plan, Cruz said he’d abolish five agencies but repeated one agency twice.

{mosads}“[My tax plan is] one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today we rolled out a spending plan,” Cruz said. “Five hundred billion dollars in specific cuts, five major agencies that I would eliminate: the IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, uh, the Department of Commerce and HUD, and then 25 specific programs.”

In an op-ed posted at the National Review shortly before the debate, Cruz said he’d eliminate the IRS, the Department of Education, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Unlike former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), whose 2012 presidential candidacy flamed out in a mortifying moment on the debate stage when he couldn’t remember the agencies he planned to eliminate, Cruz carried on without missing a beat and was not challenged on a follow-up with the moderator.

“You want to look at specificity, it’s easy for everyone to say ‘cut spending,’ ” Cruz said. “It’s much harder and riskier to put out chapter and verse, specifically the programs you’d cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandchildren.”