‘Um, get a job’: Ted Cruz prods millions of Americans who lost unemployment benefits this week

Senator from Texas told followers that small businesses across country were ‘desperate for workers’

Ted Cruz has told millions of Americans who lost their unemployment benefit to “get a job“.

The US senator from Texas took to Twitter to dole out the advice after sharing a headline that read “Jobless Americans have few options as benefits expire.”

“Um, get a job?” tweeted Mr Cruz, who led a 6 January effort against the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory over Donald Trump.

“There are millions of vacancies, and small businesses across the Nation are desperate for workers.”

More than 7m people across the US lost their emergency federal jobless benefit on Monday, and another 3m will also lose their extra $300 monthly stare unemployment benefit.

The White House has said there are no plans to extend federal benefits, and no states seem likely to do it either.

The benefits were brought in by Congress at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, but are now being ended as the Delta variant spikes across the country.

Republicans and some business groups have argued that the benefits have caused a labour shortage in the US, which they say is slowing down the economic recovery.

Officials have distributed around $680bn in emergency unemployment benefits since March 2020, when the economy was hit sharply by the pandemic.

Social media users were quick to criticise Mr Cruz, who infamously fled his home state during a historic winter storm to go on vacation to Mexico as millions were without power and water, for the tweet.

“Can you tell us where to get a job like yours?” wrote @KopsMiss, pointing out all the benefits enjoyed by an elected US senator.

And @MyDearAuntSally, tweeted: “If only there was some kind of job that paid $174k to tweet and fly to Cancun when your state was in crisis.”

“Do you know any jobs where you can take your family on vacation while the people you’re supposed to be serving are in the middle of a crisis?” Tweeted @theneedledrop.