Posted on 09/25/2013 7:24:59 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Senator Ted Cruz strolled into the Senate chamber alone at around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, carrying a large binder and ready to make his case to the American people via an informal filibuster, still ongoing at the time of this article’s publication. Mike Lee (R., Utah) would join him moments later, but not after the majority of their Senate colleagues had already thwarted their efforts to block a vote on a House-passed continuing resolution (CR) that would strip funding for Obamacare.
“I think we’d all be hard pressed to explain why we’re opposed to a bill we’re in favor of,” Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell told reporters after a GOP lunch meeting at the Capitol. “Invoking cloture on a bill that defunds Obamacare, doesn’t raise taxes, and respects the Budget Control Act, strikes me as a no-brainer.”
Cruz and Lee had pushed for months to win a vote on a must-pass government-funding bill that also defunds Obamacare, but are now filibustering that very bill, which passed the House this week. They’re trying to block passage of the measure they wanted in an effort to prevent Senate majority leader Harry Reid from amending it to restore Obamacare funding, which Reid can do with 51 votes and plans to do as soon as the measure is brought to the floor on Wednesday.
Cruz’s plans to mount a talking filibuster were rendered moot when enough GOP senators said they would vote to invoke cloture Wednesday and proceed to a final vote on the funding bill. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee said the “vast majority” of Republicans agreed that a filibuster was a misguided strategy. Even Senator Rand Paul, who has often allied with Cruz against party leadership, was reportedly not on board at the meeting (though he has now joined Cruz and Lee at the rostrum).
“First of all, there’s no end result other than shutting the government down, for which Republicans are going to be blamed by the illustrious media in this country,” Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah told reporters outside the Senate chamber. “I just don’t believe anybody benefits from shutting the government down. It’s just that simple.”
Republicans even discussed the possibility of further expediting the voting process in the Senate, in order to give the House more time to act before government funding runs out at the end of the month. McConnell said he was worried that, if the Senate adhered to standard procedure, House leadership might be put “in a tough spot.” If the Senate waits until Sunday to pass the amended resolution and send it back to the House, Speaker John Boehner would have just two days to take up the bill and add amendments (the CR expires on Monday, the end of the federal government’s fiscal year).
However, speeding up the process would require unanimous consent, meaning that Cruz or Lee could foil the plan by withholding support. “There wasn’t agreement to do it at this point, but there could be,” said Senator John Hoeven (R., N.D.).
GOP aides noted that Harry Reid has all but agreed to accept the existing, sequestration funding levels in the continuing resolution, which should be considered a win for Republicans. They are also optimistic about winning some additional concessions on Obamacare — an individual-mandate delay or a repeal of the medical-device tax, for example. The cracks are already beginning to show, one aide said, refererring to comments from Democratic National Committee chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who cautioned Democrats to “not treat every minute provision in the law as sacred.”
Whatever the end result, a handful of vulnerable Senate Democrats up for reelection will once again have to go on record supporting an unpopular law, or risk being painted as flip-floppers. (And all but three Senate Democrats will have to support the measure to reinstate Obamacare funding.)
“We’re in the minority. We have to find a way of standing up for our principles without immolating ourselves in front of everybody,” Hatch told reporters, just moments before Ted Cruz took to the Senate floor to stand up for his principles.
— Andrew Stiles and Jonathan Strong are political reporters for National Review Online.
And I will be as committed to defeat those Senate “Republicans” as I can. I’m coming for YOU, Johnny Isackson!
Hatch should have been replaced in 2012. Shame on you sheep in Utah for voting for this milquetoast. He is one of the sniveling defeatists who will vote for cloture today so that Harry Reid only needs 51 Democrat votes to keep funding ObamaCare. Every Republican who votes with Reid will have enabled ObamaCare to stay on the books. The next meaningless vote for these deceivers is a CYA vote so they can say they voted against ObamaCare....after they voted for it by invoking cloture.
Theory: Cruz is playing the long game. Obamacare WILL blow up, we all know it and so do the RINOs who are fighting him. But their strategy is to go to the voters and plead (in righteous anger, of course!) to be returned to Congress so they can “Fix It”.
Cruz on the other hand is fighting for control of the Party, or at least for the voters who are presently affiliated with it. When he emerges as not only one who saw the trainwreck coming, but was the only one who had the courage to stand up and fight it back when it was still possible to apply the brakes, he will look like a sage and hero, and will be the logical leader of either the GOP or the new conservative party that replaces it.
Meanwhile, the GOP-e is playing small ball, listening to pundits and political operatives who are wrong as often as they are right.
Vision and leadership from Cruz, politics-as-usual from the RINOs.
Will Obamacare Cost Family Of 4 An Additional $7,450?
Posted 5 hours ago by Dave Jolly Filed under Economics, Health Care, ObamaCare, Politics
On June 5, 2008, Sen. Barack Obama was campaigning for the presidency and made the following promise:
“In an Obama administration, we’ll lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year….. We’ll do it by the end of my first term as President of the United States.”
So much for keeping campaign promises. Ever since Obama and the Democrats forced Obamacare on the American public in 2010, costs for healthcare and medical treatment has continued to rise. In some areas of the nation, costs will go up as much as 70% once Obamacare and the exchanges are fully implemented.
One report, which comes from the experts working for Medicare’s actuary says that over the first ten years, Obamacare will increase health related spending for all Americans by $621 billion. Chris Conover, a contributor to Forbes took the year by year cost increases attributed to the Affordable Care Act, divided it by the projected US population for each year to determine the added cost per person. Then he multiplied that amount by four to represent a typical family and how much additional cost Obamacare will amount to. His figure over the next ten years was $7,450.
http://godfatherpolitics.com/12658/will-obamacare-cost-family-4-additional-7450/
We the people want Republicans who will fight the good fight, even if it “futile”, even if they stand alone! We want to know who our real leaders are!
Puts the GOP-E in a hell of a spot.
That's why I elected Cruz. He's doing what I want him to do.
/johnny
There, fixed it.
I want to tell his staffers to get him some 5 Hour Enery and a full copy of the Health Care Bill to read out loud for the members to hear for their first time.
Ted Cruz is telling the taxpayers for whom he works that he is assessing this law in light of the constitution and proper order and he finds it reprehensible. He is telling them/us that he knows it will be ruinous .
The pundits, particularly many who call themselves conservative are caught in their moderate status quo mentality. Even they have forgotten for whom the politicians work.
It does not matter if Cruz gets the politicians to change their votes. The real issue is pointing out where these people truly stand on taking care of this country. That’s it
The pundits want him to surrender. Why?
I heard Brit Hume yesterday telling O’Reilley hiw wrong Cruz is
What do these people want?
Isakson is dead to me. He stands with Obama and Reid. At least Paul Broun will stand with Cruz.
We will win....short term or long...maybe both!
Mitch McConnell should be aware that Reid is the problem because he will NOT allow a straight up or down vote for the continuing resolution passed to the Senate from the House.
Would it not be nice if McConnell could explain the options and strategy of the Democrats?
Does not Reid have several options for dealing with the House proposed CR? What are they?
Straight up/down vote
Allow amendments
Allow only one amendment to restore Obamacare funding to be proposed by the Democrats that will be passed by only Democrats via a simple majority?
Right, it's just the future of the country at stake, no point risking looking bad in the newspapers over it.
Hatch and his ilk are the worst sort of politician, ones who barter in favors and trade in influence all to advance their own personal interests with no concern of the fate of the people they claim to represent.
It is these sort of characterless sellouts who proceed with symbolic votes that look good all the while knowing that the core issue they claim to be fighting is moving ahead full speed. And in fact the only real action they take is to mock and demoralize anyone who hopes to even slow it down.
McConnell and the GOP leadership are process people, not public relations people. That is why they hide in the background making deals. Cruz and the young Turks are much better at using the media to reach the public.
“First of all, there’s no end result other than shutting the government down, for which Republicans are going to be blamed by the illustrious media in this country,” Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah told reporters outside the Senate chamber.”
And that is why the Republicrats need to be primaried from this point forward.
The Republican party is dead to me.
I await their replacement and until then will enjoy the monies I used to give to the Repulsicans.
The GOP is the enemy of conservatives, they no longer even hide their utter contempt of the right.
“This is not a filibuster, it is an infomercial allowing the republicans free television exposure for their side of the discussion on Obamacare. It is working just as intended.”
Excellent point. They all ought to be up there pointing out the flaws in 0bamacare. Don’t let the media imprint the story that this is somehow a delay.
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