'People need to read the fine print': Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says Texans with giant electricity bills 'gambled' and lost



Dan Patrick, the lieutenant governor of Texas, explained why some Texans received a massive electricity bill after the winter storm crisis, and he put the blame squarely on them for "gambling" with their power bill.

Patrick made the comments as a guest this week on Fox News' "Outnumbered."

"I saw the story about the high bills. Let me explain that," Patrick said, referring to reports that some customers had bills as high as $17,000.

"We have in Texas, you can choose your energy plan and most people have a fixed rate. If they had a fixed rate per kilowatt hour, their rates aren't going up. Now their bill might be up because they used more energy because they had the heat up when they got the power back," he continued.

"But the people who are getting those big bills are people who gambled on a very, very low rate, and it would go up with the power," Patrick added.

"But I've told those folks, do not panic. We are going to figure that out," he continued. "But going forward, people need to read the fine print in those kinds of bills and we may even end that type of variable plan because people were surprised."

As president of the Senate in Texas, Patrick went on to say that he would do everything in his power to fix the problem.

"We're gonna get to the bottom of this and find out what the hell happened, and we're gonna fix it once and for all," he added.

He said that they would consider using subpoena power to compel witnesses to testify over the energy grid failures.

At least 80 Texans reportedly died from the historic snowstorm that hit the state and knocked out the electric grid for many days, but experts say the true death toll won't be known for weeks.

Here's the video of Patrick's comments:

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says Texans who 'gambled' deserve $17,000 power billswww.youtube.com

Cancun fallout: Ted Cruz says 'rude' neighbors put out 'Beto' signs and his wife is 'pissed' at whoever leaked her texts



Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas detailed more of the fallout from the public relations nightmare surrounding his family's trip to Cancun in Mexico amid the energy crisis in Texas.

Cruz said that his wife Heidi was very upset at whoever leaked texts of her private conversation about the trip. He also said that he was annoyed by his neighbors putting out "Beto" signs for his onetime election challenger, Beto O'Rourke.

He made the comments as a guest on the "Ruthless" podcast published on Tuesday.

"I will say Heidi's pretty pissed at that," he said, referring to leaked texts from his wife inviting friends to join them in Cancun.

The controversy erupted when Cruz was spotted with his family at an airport boarding a plane to Cancun. His home state was experiencing record-low temperatures that broke the energy grid and left millions without electricity to face the fierce cold. At least 80 people died as a result of the crisis.

On the podcast, Cruz said the incident revealed "how ridiculously polarized and nasty" people can get.

"Here's a suggestion: just don't be a–holes," he said. "Like, just, you know, treat each other as human beings have some degree, some modicum of respect."

He went on to gripe about neighbors on his street "who put up Beto signs, which I thought was a little rude."

Cruz added, "you know, I didn't, like, hold a victory party on their front yards when we won."

Defenders of Cruz have pointed out that he was merely trying to keep his wife and daughters happy during a terrible time and that as a U.S. senator there wasn't much he could personally do to alleviate the problems suffered by Texans.

Cruz conceded during a separate guest appearance on talk radio that the decision to leave was "was dumb as hell."

Here's the audio of Cruz talking about the scandal:

Ted Cruz's Wife 'Pissed' About Leaked Textswww.youtube.com

Joe Rogan defends Ted Cruz over Cancún controversy: 'Can he make it warm out?'



Comedian Joe Rogan appeared to defend Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in a new episode of the "Joe Rogan Experience" after the Republican lawmaker was bashed for briefly traveling to Cancún last week with his family.

What is the background?

Cruz found himself at the center of controversy after he was spotted flying to Cancún. Such a trip may be commonplace for affluent Houston residents, considering the short distance between Houston and the tropical paradise situated on the Yucatán Peninsula.

After all, senators were scheduled to be at home last week. So, with school being canceled because of snow, and Cruz being at home with his family, the Texas lawmaker said he made the trip after his daughters requested a short getaway.

But at the same time Cruz took his brief trip, Texans were enduring a massive crisis, triggered by unusual winter weather and record-low temperatures. Millions of Texans experienced power outages — some even for multiple days — which, combined with once-in-a-generation arctic air, resulted in multiple deaths.

Democrats pounced on the moment, accusing Cruz of hypocrisy and alleging that he was somehow neglecting Texans in their time of need.

However, Cruz was neither able to restore power nor warm temperatures above freezing.

What did Rogan say?

Rogan, who moved to the Lone Star State last year, made this exact point while discussing the absurd controversy during a new podcast episode with Tim Dillon.

"Here's the thing: What can he do? What is the reason for him staying?" Rogan said.

Dillon responded, "I think it's just the optics of how it looks."

"Can he make it warm out?" Rogan retorted, then joking, "Maybe he should be there with blankets and put them over the pipes."

"It's funny. It's the people that hate him the most are the ones like, 'He should be there!' And it's like, 'Doing what?!'" Dillon responded.

The Austin Ice Storm & Ted Cruz Traveling to Cancun During Crisis www.youtube.com

Anything else?

Later in the podcast, Rogan noted that Cruz was a "vocal critic" of Austin Mayor Steve Adler, a Democrat, who flew to Cabo San Lucas, another Mexican tropical paradise, last December after telling Austin residents to "stay home" because of the coronavirus.

The Austin American-Statesmen made the same connection.

However, there is an obvious and significant difference between what Adler and Cruz did: Adler told his residents to "stay home" while already in Cabo.

Schumer mocks Texas over deadly energy crisis, blames 'ignored climate change': 'Hope they learned a lesson'



Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer disparaged and mocked Texas on Sunday as the Lone Star State battles the crisis triggered by record-breaking winter weather last week.

What happened in Texas?

When snow, ice, and blistering arctic air engulfed Texas and the deep south last week, millions of Texans were left in the dark and cold for days.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas — which is responsible for supplying the majority of the state's electricity for more than 25 million Texans — has come under fire for vulnerabilities in the Texas power grid. In fact, Texas was just "seconds and minutes" away from experiencing catastrophic failure with its energy grid that would have left the state in the dark for months, the Texas Tribute reported.

More from the New York Post:

Texas is the only state in the continental US to run its own stand-alone electricity grid and had not been forced to weatherize because it is not subject to federal oversight.

The exact number of people who died from the extreme cold is not yet known.

What did Schumer say?

The New York Democrat said he hopes Texas "learned a lesson," attributing the significant energy issues to officials who have "ignored climate change."

"The bottom line is, Texas thought it could go it alone and built a system that ignored climate change," Schumer said while speaking in Manhattan, the New York Post reported.

"It was not what's called resilient, and now Texas is paying the price," he mocked. "I hope they learned a lesson."

Schumer went on to bash Texas officials for allegedly not considering the effects of climate change when constructing their energy systems.

"When we build power, when we build anything now, we have to take into account that climate change is real, or people will have to be caught the way the people in Texas were," Schumer said.

"When I wrote the [Hurricane] Sandy bill, $60 billion for New York, we made sure everything was resilient," he added. "When they built back the subways, built back this, built back that, they were going to be resistant to climate changes, and we have to do that."