Sen. Ted Cruz will tour Red River Army Depot and take part in a roundtable discussion there Wednesday.
Depot officials and area private sector leaders will meet with Cruz, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and its Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, which oversees RRAD and similar military facilities.
He plans "to discuss Red River Army Depot and its value to the area to touch base with them and ask if there's any way he can help them in his capacity as a senator," said Cruz Press Assistant Heidi Watson.
RRAD staff will guide Cruz on a tour of the depot's Maneuver Systems Sustainment Center, the latest addition to its production facility, RRAD Public Affairs Officer Adrienne Brown said. He will also receive an overview briefing on the depot's infrastructure and capabilities.
The talks will be private, but Cruz's staff invited news media to hear his remarks before the meeting begins. He will not take questions or make any other appearances here Wednesday, Watson said.
RRAD invited Cruz and other elected officials to its 75th Birthday Ball on Friday, but he cannot attend and proposed Wednesday's visit instead, Brown said.
While Congress is in recess, through Sept. 5, he is touring Texas military facilities such as Fort Bliss and RRAD, she said.
The visit will be Cruz's first to Texarkana since he took office in January 2013.