Honestly, with the significance of the space shuttle program to Houston and vice-versa, having one on display in Houston does seem important. Feels really weird to agree with something that Ted Cruz says (even if the actual intent may be a bit different).
EDIT (before even posting): I looked into it a bit and came across this article on arstechnica. It looks like it's indeed a political stunt. All of the necessary transport vehicles have been disassembled and the staff involved in their operation retired.
The cost would be significantly higher than $85M. It's also questioned whether the orbiter would survive the trip. Would have been ideal for an orbiter to be in Houston but may not be reasonably possible at this point.