Texas.
A week after the state was battered by winter storms
that took out the power grid,
nearly nine million people still don't have clean water.
But don't worry. Help is on the way.
After getting blasted for flying to Cancún
when his own heat went off, Ted Cruz, Texas senator
and Disney prince before true love's kiss,
is now back in his home state doing the literal bare minimum
for the sake of the cameras.
Ted Cruz appearing back in front of the cameras, not in Cancún.
Yeah, he spent the weekend helping Houston
residents and first responders.
He served barbecue
to firefighters and police officers.
Also delivered safe drinking water to folks who need it.
Sorry, Cruz.
This is not gonna cut it, my man.
See this right here-- this is the politician version
of coming home with flowers the day after Valentine's Day.
It's not nothing, but your ass is still sleeping on the couch.
And honestly, I don't know why politicians try
to pull off these lame photo ops.
They basically just turn people
who actually need real help into political props.
And their photographers probably just make it worse.
-(camera shutter clicking) -Yes, yes, that's fabulous, darling.
Yes, yes, yes. Pout more.
Pout more, more like you don't have any food or water.
But I don't have any food or water.
-Great. Use that. Use that, yes. -(camera shutter clicking)
Feel it, feel it.
Now fortunately,
most Texans do have their electricity back on now,
so they can finally log on to all those Zoom meetings
that really should have just been e-mails.
But even some people who didn't lose their power are finding out
that they weren't as lucky as they first thought.
The desperation growing in Texas.
Temperatures are finally rising,
but so is outrage over absurdly-high electric bills.
NEWSMAN: Texans like Scott Willoughby, who signed up
for Griddy Energy, not knowing
his rate could vary with the market.
So when power supply went down from the storm,
his typically $200 bill took off.
What was the damage?
$16,798, something like that.
And this was not a bill, this was withdrawn?
This was withdrawn straight from my account.
NEWSMAN 2: In Fort Worth,
the utility company charged Ty Williams $17,000.
So we were held hostage, really, with our-our rate
that we were working with.
It was really crazy.
I'm trying to get, you know, gas and groceries
and make sure that my pipes don't explode.
Um, the last thing that I'm thinking about is
that $7,000 bill from my utility company.
Wow, people. $17,000 for electricity?
At that point, it's cheaper to literally
burn your own money for warmth.
There's probably one Amish guy on the street right now
all smug as hell, seeing this story.
He's eating a homemade stick of butter like,
"I told thou so, bitches."
Because seriously, people, at $17,000,
it's almost not worth having any electricity.
I mean, at the very least,
you're gonna have to make extremely tough choices.
Do you charge Grandma's oxygen machine,
or your PlayStation controller?
Because, I mean, Grandma needs the oxygen to live,
but you can't just stop playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla
before you've united England.
I think Grandma would have understood that.
But the question is, why are some Texans being hit
with bills bigger than their belt buckles?
Well, unlike every other state, it turns out
Texas has very few regulations on its utility companies.
And this free market system used to be the pride of Texas.
In fact, a couple of years ago, Ted Cruz was bragging that...
"The success of Texas energy was built over many years
on free enterprise and low regulation."
But now, now that Texans are being charged $20,000
to toast a bagel,
Cruz has discovered that regulation might not be so bad.
NEWSMAN: Sunday, Senator Ted Cruz tweeting "This is wrong.
"No power company should get a windfall
"because of a natural disaster,
"and Texans should not get hammered
"by ridiculous rate increases for last week's energy debacle.
"State and local regulators should act swiftly
to prevent this injustice."
Oh, you tell them, Ted Cruz.
"The only Texan that should be getting hammered is me,
at the hotel bar in Cancún."
So, yes, Ted Cruz has reversed his stance on regulation,
like it was a flight path to Mexico.
And I mean, let's be honest.
Nobody forced these Texans
to choose the world's shadiest company for their electricity.
But also, nobody really talked about the worst-case scenario
when they touted the wonders of an unregulated market.
When conservatives talk about freedom from government,
they only focus on the good things,
but that's not the whole picture.
If you were running a zoo, and you told all the antelopes,
"Congrats, guys. We're giving you all the freedom
to roam around the zoo," that's good news.
But it would be only fair to tell them
that the lions are also gonna be getting that freedom,
because that shit is not as good
for the antelopes as you make it sound.