How Senate GOP Leadership Stymied Ted Cruz on Defunding Planned Parenthood

Daily Signal ^ | September 29, 2015 | Rob Bluey

[Isara]

Days after Sen. Ted Cruz criticized his party’s leadership for preemptively surrendering to President Barack Obama, those GOP leaders exacted their revenge on Cruz.

As the Senate voted Monday on a continuing resolution with taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, Cruz attempted to offer an amendment ending all federal funding for America’s largest abortion provider. The amendment also cut off money to implement the Iran nuclear deal.

But in a departure from Senate custom, a quartet of Republican leaders blocked the Texas senator from even getting a vote on his amendment. Only one senator, Mike Lee of Utah, stood with Cruz on the Senate floor.

The four Republican leaders included Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Whip John Cornyn, and Sens. Thad Cochran and Lamar Alexander, chairmen of the Appropriations Committee and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, respectively. They loudly voted against bringing Cruz’s amendment to the floor.

After Cruz was stymied, the Senate proceeded to vote on a motion, 77-19, to advance the government spending bill, which funds federal operations through Dec. 11.

Planned Parenthood, which performs an abortion every 90 seconds on average, is embroiled in a scandal stemming from a series of undercover videos. Those videos have prompted federal and state investigations into Planned Parenthood’s involvement in the alleged sale of aborted baby body parts.

Last week, Cruz told The Daily Signal that congressional Republicans were failing in their quest to end taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood because GOP leadership signaled its unwillingness to challenge Obama on the issue.

In a lengthy Senate speech Monday, Cruz accused his own party of adopting tactics employed by Democrat Harry Reid, the former majority leader, against a fellow Republican.

“Senators on this side of the aisle stood up over and over again and said it’s an abuse of process,” Cruz said. “In fact, we even campaigned our leadership saying we’re going to have an open amendment process. Yet, what’s happened here is Majority Leader McConnell has taken a page out of Leader Reid’s playbook.”

That process—known as “filling the tree”—is what Cruz attempted to undo Monday with his Planned Parenthood and Iran amendment. His fellow GOP senators, however, refused to second Cruz’s motion.

Cruz called the move an “unprecedented procedural trick.” He vowed to offer the amendment again today when the Senate votes on final passage of the government spending bill.

“I encourage those watching to see, No. 1, when this motion is offered again, who shows up to offer a second and who either doesn’t raise his hand or just doesn’t come to the floor,” Cruz said. “One of the ways you avoid accountability is you somehow are somewhere else doing something really, really important instead of actually showing up to the battle that is waging right here and now.”

[Isara]

FYI

[A CA Guy]

The GOPe will lose the Senate next election. Idiots!

[Ray76]

Republicans are rotten to the core.

[cripplecreek]

They’re giving it their all.

[A CA Guy]

Cruz and Lee, yes. The rest in reverse.

[Bobby_Taxpayer]

SENATORS UP FOR RE-ELECTION IN 2016

DEMOCRATS

Michael Bennet (Colorado)
Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut)
Barbara Boxer (California) retiring in 2016
Patrick Leahy (Vermont)
Barbara Mikulski (Maryland) retiring in 2016
Patty Murray (Washington)
Harry Reid (Nevada) retiring in 2016
Brian Schatz (Hawaii)
Charles Schumer (New York)
Ron Wyden (Oregon)

REPUBLICANS

Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire)
Roy Blunt (Missouri)
John Boozman (Arkansas)
Richard Burr (North Carolina)
Dan Coats (Indiana) retiring in 2016
Mike Crapo (Idaho)
Chuck Grassley (Iowa)
John Hoeven (North Dakota)
Johnny Isakson (Georgia)
Ron Johnson (Wisconsin)
Mark Kirk (Illinois)
James Lankford (Oklahoma)
Mike Lee (Utah)
John McCain (Arizona)
Jerry Moran (Kansas)
Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)
Rand Paul (Kentucky)
Rob Portman (Ohio)
Marco Rubio (Florida) retiring in 2016
Tim Scott (South Carolina)
Richard Shelby (Alabama)
John Thune (South Dakota)
Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania)
David Vitter (Louisiana)

[Carl Vehse]

Other than Cruz and Lee, all the other GOP Senators are gutless cowards unfit to be senators. That includes the senior senator from Texas, who needs to be defeated when he faces a primary again.

[Repeal The 17th]

Only Mike Lee of Utah, stood with Cruz on the Senate floor.
Four Republican leaders blocked the vote:
Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, Thad Cochran, and Lamar Alexander.

[TribalPrincess2U]

GOP are good at screwing their own but can’t garner enough balls to fight the leftist marxist cult.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Cruz is actually fighting the Republican establishment while others simply pay lip service.

[Stand Watch Listen]

Sen. Cruz: The Real Story of What Is Happening in Washington (Sep 28, 2015 – 59:47)
……… OR... “Mr Cruz Goes To Washington”

Ted Cruz couldn’t get anyone in the Senate to back him tonight as he tried to get a ban on Planned Parenthood funding and a linkage of the Iran Nuclear deal in a government funding bill. He stood alone on the Senate floor:
Cruz’s amendment would place a one-year ban on federal funding for Planned Parenthood. It would also ban the Obama administration from using funds from the short-term bill to implement the Iran nuclear deal or any “assessed contributions” to the United Nations until lawmakers receive the “side deals” between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The “side deals” have been a key point of contention among opponents of the deal. Cruz and House Republicans have suggested that the 60-day congressional review period for the Iran nuclear deal hasn’t started because the administration hasn’t given lawmakers the agreements.

After the procedural back-and-forth, Cruz slammed Republican leadership, suggesting they repeatedly “surrender” to President Obama.

“You know, President Obama has negotiated a catastrophic nuclear deal with Iran. Republican leadership goes on television all the time and rightly says this is a catastrophic deal,” he added. “I would suggest that if we actually believed the words that are coming out of their mouths, then we should be willing to use any and all constitutional authorities.”

After this Cruz launched into an hour speech, one that Mark Levin just tweeted out saying it’s a MUST LISTEN.

[JohnBovenmyer]

There’s a state once know for honorable men with notable achievements in public service, Kentucky colonels. But now all it has left are the chickens.

[Cold Heat]

Yeah, Boozman is my problem....he has been very disappointing...I plan to vote against him, even if I have to sit it out...No more straight ticket voting...

2014 was the last time I will ever do that.

[blondiegoodbadugly]

You can’t post that enough. Thank you

[Stand Watch Listen]

Since I first became aware of it, I started to post on various threads since early this morning (3:26 AM). Someone else is also posting the link on different threads.

It is an important message, a dynamic speech and I just desired to make it accessible to any FReeper that may have missed this speech. The growing low information voters in this country have now rendered it incapable of constructive action, threatened any meaningful discourse to address our expanding national problems.

Sen Cruz should be watched as a capable messenger with a worthwhile message. Many of us have been waiting far too long.

[RushingWater]

This makes every Senator and staff of these Senators that didn’t stand with Cruz complicit in dismembering the baby and selling the baby parts.

[Jane Long]

This makes every Senator and staff of these Senators that didn’t stand with Cruz complicit in dismembering the baby and selling the baby parts.

---

THAT ^^

[lewislynn]

The amendment also cut off money to implement the Iran nuclear deal.

He's more worried about that than PP funding.

His brain dead Corker bill vote has him scared shirtless, and it should.

He's not worthy of holding any public office after that vote FOR OBAMA and FOR IRAN and AGAINST ISRAEL

Conservative constitutionalist my ass.

[mom of young patriots]

I despise Cornyn. I was not at all surprised that he was one of the 4. I knew he’d gone over to the dark side some time ago, but now he has the blood of innocents on his hands for all to see. I have written him numerous letters, but all I ever got back was him trumpeting his position as though he hadn’t heard me. He has gone deaf to his constituency.

[napscoordinator]

Other than Cruz and Lee, all the other GOP Senators are gutless cowards unfit to be senators.

Probably right. So how is Ted Cruz going to have a successful Presidency? He won’t. The Congress will NOT work with him. It would be 4 years of nothing getting done except through Executive Order. Is that what we want? I guess it wouldn’t be much worse then Obama.