Welcome to the Freedom to Learn podcast.

I'm your host, Ginny Gentles.

This season, we're diving into what it means to return education to states, communities, and families.

And we're exploring what becomes possible when education is freed from union dominance and federal control.

School choice is the civil rights issue of the 21st century. Every child, regardless of race or wealth or ethnicity, deserves access to an excellent education.

This tax credit provision will unleash billions of dollars every single year for scholarships, for kids to attend the K-12 school of their choice.

On behalf of everyone at the Defense of Freedom Institute, we wish our freedom to learn listeners a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving.

We're truly grateful for you. We're re-hearing an important episode with U.S. Senator Ted Cruz that was originally

released right after President Trump signed the one big, beautiful reconciliation bill.

Senator Cruz joined the podcast to share a behind-the-scenes look into how the federal

scholarship tax credit for contributions to scholarship granting organizations became part of

that big bill, and now law.

Senator Ted Cruz protected the new federal scholarship tax credit from the Senate parliamentarian,

fought off an amendment to strip out the provision, and met with the president to advocate for the school choice tax credit.

We also talk about the expansion of 529 plans that he championed and how both provisions will transform

education nationwide. Senator Ted Cruz, welcome to Freedom to Learn. Jenny, great to be with you.

Thanks for having me. A federal school choice provision that you've championed for years was on the

verge of being cut from the reconciliation package

as it made its way through the Senate. Could you walk us through how you managed to overcome the

parliamentarians' concerns about the scholarship tax credit? Well, listen, this was an enormous battle,

and three times the school choice provision was on the verge of being cut, and the parliamentarian

was saying it would not

...