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Senate defies Cruz, strips language defunding ObamaCare (who on earth could have predicted that??)
thehill.com ^ | 9/27/13 | Alexandra Bolton and Ramsey Cox

Posted on 09/27/2013 10:50:21 AM PDT by cotton1706

The Senate on Friday voted to strip language defunding ObamaCare from a stopgap spending measure on Friday after a bipartisan vote to proceed with the measure.

The Senate voted on party lines to remove the ObamaCare language, in a 54-44 vote. GOP Sens. Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.) were absent for the vote.

The ObamaCare vote came after the Senate voted to proceed in a 79-19 vote, with 25 Republicans voting in favor of moving forward and 19 voting against.

The GOP votes represented a rejection of Sen. Ted Cruz’s arguments that Republicans would be helping Democrats in moving the bill forward.

.

A number of the Texas Republican’s colleagues said it was better to get the bill back to the House to give the lower chamber more time to deliver an alternative funding measure.

The Senate is now voting on approving the bill. That vote will succeed, placing the ball in the House's court.

It’s unclear what the House will do next.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has not developed a clear plan, and the House GOP Conference plans to meet on Saturday to consider its options.

The government will shut down on Tuesday without a new funding measure.

Cruz, backed by Tea Party groups, lobbied his colleagues throughout the week to block the bill in order to prevent Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) from removing the ObamaCare provisions.

In the end, 19 of Cruz's colleagues backed him: GOP Sens. Jerry Moran (Kan.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Richard Shelby (Ala.), Jame Risch (Idaho), James Inhofe (Okla.), Rob Portman (Ohio), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), David Vitter (La.), Rand Paul (Ky.), Mike Lee (Utah), Ted Cruz (Texas), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Mike Enzi (Wyo.), Deb Fischer (Neb.), Pat Roberts (Kan.), Tim Scott (S.C.), Dean Heller (Nev.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Pat Toomey (Pa.).

Senate GOP leaders did not want to be blamed for quashing a bill necessary to avert a government shutdown on Tuesday, when funding is scheduled to expire. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who voted to advance the bill, argued earlier in the week that the legislation deserved to advance to a final vote because, as initially written, it would halt the healthcare law’s implementation.

“Invoking cloture on a bill that defunds ObamaCare, doesn’t raise taxes and respects the Budget Control Act, it strikes me as a no-brainer,” McConnell told reporters.

McConnell emphasized Friday morning that the Senate GOP Conference is unified in its desire to repeal the law, even if its members disagree over tactics.

Cruz and other Tea Party-affiliated conservatives argued that by agreeing to limit debate, Republicans would give Reid the power to radically rewrite the bill and pass it with simple majority votes.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), one of Cruz’s allies, said that by voting to end debate and set up a final vote, Republicans would empower Reid to gut the House-passed resolution.

“Everyone knows that the vote we’re about to take — cloture on the House-passed continued resolution — is essentially a vote to allow Democrats to gut the House bill,” Lee said. “That’s why every Senate Democrat is supporting it.”

Cruz tried to rally his Republican colleagues by speaking on the floor for more than 21 hours over Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning.

The impassioned effort fired up conservative activists, who flooded Senate offices with calls and tied up phone lines but gained little traction with GOP senators, who grew increasingly irritated with Cruz as the week wore on.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) scolded Cruz for comparing GOP leaders’ stance on defunding ObamaCare to former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s effort to appease Adolf Hitler.

“I think it’s wrong and I think it’s a disservice to those who stood up and shouted at the top of their lungs that we cannot appease and that we must act,” he said.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) on Thursday rebuked Cruz for delaying the votes until Friday morning, accusing him of playing to the C-SPAN cameras and giving the House less time to respond.

Reid in a floor speech on Friday criticized Cruz for holding up the Senate’s work.

“Every minute that passes is a minute we get closer to a government shutdown,” Reid said. “But a bad day for government is a good day for the anarchists among us. ... So the question is, can we overcome the modern day anarchist?”

The Senate also rejected a budget point of order against the bill in a 68-30 vote.

Sessions, the senior Republican on the Budget Committee, raised the point of order, saying the bill exceeds the 2011 Budget Control Act by continuing the current spending level at the annualized rate of $986.3 billion.


TOPICS: Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: aca; congress; cruz; democrats; elections; obamacare
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To: Vigilanteman

Right, and at least Chamberlain resigned.


21 posted on 09/27/2013 11:01:45 AM PDT by gattaca ("Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal." Thomas Jefferson)
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To: cotton1706

The anarchist is the one that ignores the US Constitution, as Dingy Harry does. We are headed for war.


22 posted on 09/27/2013 11:02:39 AM PDT by CodeToad (Liberals are bloodsucking ticks. We need to light the matchstick to burn them off. -786 +969)
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To: cotton1706
Repubs never go on the offensive. They should have been repeating over and over and over that the Senate bill would be DOA at the House if they strip out the Obamacare defunding. Make the Senate Dems have to respond (be defensive).

Too bad the Repubs have earned the folding-lawn-chair reputation and feel the need to prove it every week.

23 posted on 09/27/2013 11:03:07 AM PDT by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
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Okay guys, time to clean house in your states of the RINO vermin. Revenge is a dish served cold. Get some TEA Partiers out there and start the primary threats.


24 posted on 09/27/2013 11:03:08 AM PDT by InsidiousMongo
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To: xzins

“I’m pleasantly surprised. My Senator Portman, Ohio, voted with Ted Cruz.”

Then take a look at this tweet from Dana Basch:

“I’m told Portman and Moran - w/ NRSC specifically voted no and with Cruz to help beat back conservatives “us v establishment” narrative12:56 PM - 27 Sep 2013”

So much for principle!


25 posted on 09/27/2013 11:04:20 AM PDT by cotton1706
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To: Snickering Hound

Hope he’s good; because Cornyn is gone. Would love to take his salary, pension, benefits and new job prospects away from him as he has done the American public.


26 posted on 09/27/2013 11:04:35 AM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: onyx; All
Call the Republican National Committee:
310 First Street, SE Washington, DC 20003
(202) 863-8500

Tell them you are finished with them. Do it today!!!


27 posted on 09/27/2013 11:04:41 AM PDT by RedMDer (http://www.dontfundobamacare.com/)
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To: cotton1706

79 traitors. Karma gonna bite them in the butt for sure. When they leave no pensions, salaries, benefits or job prospects like they are doing the American people.


28 posted on 09/27/2013 11:06:09 AM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: cotton1706; All

” - - - The impassioned effort fired up conservative activists, who flooded Senate offices with calls and tied up phone lines but gained little traction with GOP senators, who grew increasingly irritated - - - “

THANK ALL Y’ALL FOR YOUR UNTIRING EFFORTS TO HARASS AND SOON REPLACE OUR SORRY “GOP SENATORS.”

LET US ENDEAVOR TO CAUSE OUR SORRY GOP SENATORS TO GROW EVEN MORE “INCREASINGLY IRRITATED.”

THE NEW REPUBLICAN PARTY WAS BORN WHEN SENATOR TED CRUZ BEGAN HIS 21 HOUR INSPIRATIONAL FILIBUSTER.”

THIS IS JUST ONE OF MANY BATTLES TO TAKE CONTROL OF THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE.

WE WILL PREVAIL !


29 posted on 09/27/2013 11:06:17 AM PDT by Graewoulf (Traitor John Roberts' Commune-Style Obama'care' violates U.S. Constitution AND Anti-Trust Law.)
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To: RedMDer
Yup, the final back stab for me anyway.

There has to be a price paid by these bastards.

30 posted on 09/27/2013 11:15:36 AM PDT by The Cajun (Sarah Palin, Mark Levin, Ted Cruz......Nuff said.)
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To: cotton1706; austinaero; afraidfortherepublic; Chasaway; pattty; pollywog; RonDog; JDoutrider; ...

Ted Cruz Ping!

If you want on/off this ping list, please let me know.

Please beware, this is a high-volume ping list!


31 posted on 09/27/2013 11:17:57 AM PDT by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
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To: RedMDer

Done!!


32 posted on 09/27/2013 11:46:47 AM PDT by cork (Remember Bengazi!)
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To: ConservativeMan55
some of the No votes weren’t so much courage.. but moreso political posturing. When some pols, possibly Portman, saw that it wasn’t going to pass and that they could still vote no, they did. If it had been close he may have voted another way. But.. he still voted the right way so you have to give him credit.

So so true. 95% in CONgress are scumbags. This battle, sadly, will not be won by a fraudulent voting booth.

33 posted on 09/27/2013 11:55:37 AM PDT by Digger
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To: Snickering Hound

I’ll vote democrap before I vote for Cornyn and I told his office that. Any conservative challenger gets my support.


34 posted on 09/27/2013 12:02:47 PM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: Vigilanteman
"McCain, on the other hand, will apparently never learn."

Either that or he knows and sides with what Obamacare will wrought.

35 posted on 09/27/2013 12:12:45 PM PDT by Dutch Boy
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To: freekitty

ttp://www.theminorityreportblog.com/2013/09/27/list-of-republican-senators-who-voted-to-fund-obamacare/


36 posted on 09/27/2013 12:22:42 PM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: freekitty

Let 2014 slap them upside thier heads


37 posted on 09/27/2013 12:31:52 PM PDT by ronnie raygun (What you get when you refuse to vet)
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To: ConservativeMan55

With so few republicans voting for cloture, Portman could have gone with the flow and been protected. Granted he’s protected by knowing that it wasn’t going to pass, but he could have gotten away with staying with the crowd.


38 posted on 09/27/2013 12:36:00 PM PDT by xzins ( Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who truly support our troops pray for victory!)
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To: cotton1706

So, they voted with Cruz to make his numbers look bigger and make the “us vs establishment” argument seem weaker....that’s a reasonable explanation.

Who is Dana Basch?


39 posted on 09/27/2013 12:38:46 PM PDT by xzins ( Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who truly support our troops pray for victory!)
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To: xzins

“Who is Dana Basch?”

A reporter, from what I understand.


40 posted on 09/27/2013 12:41:20 PM PDT by cotton1706
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