Ted Cruz’s Secret Santa gift

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is having a bipartisan Christmas.

He told TMZ that he was given Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) for this year’s secret Santa gift exchange in the SEnate.

“She likes cooking, so I gave her a Texas cookbook,” he said.

He was the secret Santa for Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), he said, who got him a selection of foods from Alaska.

{mosads}Cruzo said that the senators, like many Americans participating in gift exchanges, were limited by how much they could spend.

“You know, there’s a limit of 15 bucks. Politicians are kind of inherently cheap,” he said.

The Senate’s secret Santa tradition was started in 2011 by Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Mike Johanns (R-Neb.). Senators generally give across party lines — the event is meant to encourage bipartisanship at a time of year when members of Congress are generally dealing with tense issues.

That might come in handy this week, as members of both houses try to pass a spending bill and avert a government shutdown.