Republicans must honor their promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and President Donald Trump must toughen his talk about Russia’s leaders, said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) Thursday.

Speaking to small gathering of reporters at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Harbor Hotel in Maryland, Cruz said he was generally happy about the progress the Trump administration made in its first month.

“Do I wish President Trump’s rhetoric more clearly articulated that Putin is a KGB thug? Yes. That clarity is important.”

Cruz noted Trump approved the expansion of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, halted many regulations, and froze nonessential federal hiring.

Cruz’s sharpest advice for Trump was to get more critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Do I wish President Trump’s rhetoric more clearly articulated that Putin is a KGB thug? Yes,” said Cruz. “That clarity is important.”

But Cruz said he has defended Trump to Democrats who say Trump is too soft on Russia.

“Point to one [Trump] policy position that manifests that,” said Cruz.

On Obamacare
Cruz said the Republican-led Congress has a promise to keep to voters that lifted them to offices in strong GOP tides in 2010, 2014, and 2016.

“Congress should move expeditiously to repeal Obamacare,” said Cruz. “What matters is we honor our promise.”

But Republicans have had trouble coalescing behind a plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010 and threatened every year by Republicans since then.

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Cruz said the best way to proceed on repeal is to use a 2015 bill that repealed most of Obamacare. The bill would pass parliamentary procedure, and a repeal of Obamacare mandates could be added.

But Cruz said he doesn’t want to see Obamacare replaced with a GOP version, “another 2,000-page monstrosity.”

Yet Cruz said GOP reforms could include allowing the purchase of health insurance across state lines; the expansion of health savings accounts; and the implementation of insurance “portability,” which would allow people to carry their health plans from one employer to the next.

Cruz warned his Republican colleagues not be enamored with parts of Obamacare that are not popular but add revenue to federal coffers.

“There are some Senate Republicans who want to keep the Obamacare taxes, because they want to spend money,” said Cruz. “I think that would be foolish.”

On the ‘Nuclear Option’ for the Cabinet and Gorsuch
Cruz said he “raised a toast” for former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who pushed for a “nuclear option” to allow a simple majority vote on Cabinet nominees.

Reid thought he would be able to push through more nominees for former President Obama that way, and he did. But then Republicans took the Senate in 2015, and Trump took office in 2017. Now there is no filibuster to stop Trump’s Cabinet from taking office, Cruz said, and Republicans are getting very conservative leaders as a result.

Cruz said the change was overdue. Republicans in the past let the Democrats have far-Left leaders, while they let Democrats block conservative Cabinet choices.

“The Democrats have always nominated their nut cases to the Cabinet,” said Cruz. “And Republicans docilely went along with it.”

But on the Supreme Court, Cruz was more cautious. Filibusters are still allowed on Supreme Court nominees. Cruz told LifeZette he has not said the nuclear option should be extended to Supreme Court nominees.

Instead, Cruz expects no filibuster on, and an eventual approval of, U.S. Judge Neil Gorsuch, the nominee for the ninth seat on the Supreme Court.

Tax Reform
Tax reform has gripped Washington, with some reporters saying it is in trouble, with Trump and some media outlets, such as CNBC, saying it is on track.

A major overhaul of the tax code has not been done since 1986.

Cruz pushed his ideas, which are not all likely to be included into a final Republican bill. He said he supported a 10-percent flat income tax, and the abolition of the corporate tax.

The U.S. corporate tax, the highest in the industrialized nations, has been targeted by Trump, who said he wants it reduced to 15 percent.

Cruz said the simpler, the better.

“Complexity in the tax code is a boon to lawyers and lobbyists … and is a bane to taxpayers,” said Cruz.

On Refugees
Cruz said Trump was right to issue an executive order temporarily restricting refugees and travelers from seven troubled African and Middle Eastern nations.

The majority of Americans support such restrictions and extreme vetting of visitors from nations that are hotbeds of terrorism.