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 Cruzs arguments that Republicans would be helping Democrats in moving the bill forward.
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A number of the Texas Republicans 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.
Its 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 laws implementation.
Invoking cloture on a bill that defunds ObamaCare, doesnt 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 Cruzs 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 were about to take cloture on the House-passed continued resolution is essentially a vote to allow Democrats to gut the House bill, Lee said. Thats 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 Chamberlains effort to appease Adolf Hitler.
I think its wrong and I think its 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 Senates 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.
Right, and at least Chamberlain resigned.
The anarchist is the one that ignores the US Constitution, as Dingy Harry does. We are headed for war.
Too bad the Repubs have earned the folding-lawn-chair reputation and feel the need to prove it every week.
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.
“Im 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!
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.
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.
” - - - 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 !
There has to be a price paid by these bastards.
Ted Cruz Ping!
If you want on/off this ping list, please let me know.
Please beware, this is a high-volume ping list!
Done!!
So so true. 95% in CONgress are scumbags. This battle, sadly, will not be won by a fraudulent voting booth.
I’ll vote democrap before I vote for Cornyn and I told his office that. Any conservative challenger gets my support.
Either that or he knows and sides with what Obamacare will wrought.
ttp://www.theminorityreportblog.com/2013/09/27/list-of-republican-senators-who-voted-to-fund-obamacare/
Let 2014 slap them upside thier heads
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.
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?
“Who is Dana Basch?”
A reporter, from what I understand.
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