WASHINGTON -- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tried on Tuesday to catch Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano saying she didn't read the "gang of eight" immigration bill before she came to Capitol Hill to discuss it, but didn't have much luck.
"My office received the text of this bill at 2:25 a.m. on Wednesday, April 17 -- five days ago," he said at a Senate Judiciary hearing on immigration. "In the five days since then, when you have obviously been heavily focused on matters such as the Boston bombing ... have you had the opportunity to read all 844 pages of the bill?"
The answer, according to Napolitano, was yes, and Cruz had to drop his line of questioning.
"Then that must have been a busy weekend," Cruz replied.
The length of the bill -- 844 pages -- and its release after 2 a.m. last Wednesday have been a point of contention for Republican senators, who argue it will be pushed through the Senate without time for them to fully evaluate it. The hearing on Tuesday was the third of its kind since the bill's release.
Cruz said he had only five days to look at the bill, and was ribbed by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the gang of eight, who reminded him it was six days.
"I would just reiterate, this bill is going to be available for everyone to read for three weeks from the day it was introduced, which was actually six days [ago], not five days," he said. "It was Wednesday at 2 a.m. -- I was there, I introduced it."
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