Posted on 10/16/2013 9:58:14 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Sens. Cruz, Lee say they won't block deal By Mike Lillis - 10/16/13 12:38 PM ET
Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee said Wednesday that they won't try to block the bipartisan deal to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling.
"The timing of the vote will make no difference to the outcome," Cruz (R-Texas) said. "I have no intention of delaying the vote."
Cruz and Lee (R-Utah) had spearheaded the campaign to attach ObamaCare language to any new budget bills, and had pushed their colleagues to take a hard-line stance.
But the pair emerged from a meeting of Senate Republicans Wednesday afternoon to say they would let the agreement — which contains only one provision on ObamaCare — move forward.
"Some of us want to see it first — we still don't have text," Lee said. "But provided we get the text and have time t review it and everything, I suspect we'll collapse the time."
There has been speculation that the bipartisan deal might originate in the House, thereby eliminating some procedural hurdles when the bill moved to the Senate. But with Cruz and Lee withdrawing their filibuster threats, several GOP senators said the upper chamber will likely act first on the agreement.
The deal reached by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would fund the government through Jan. 15 and raise the debt-ceiling until February. It would require income verification for subsidies under ObamaCare, but otherwise leave the helathcare law untouched.
The weeks-long fight over ObamaCare has left the GOP sharply divided and licking its wounds, after centrist Republicans warned for weeks that the battle was futile and damaging to the party.
Several Republicans left the meeting Wednesday grumbling that the conservatives in their ranks had prolonged the impasse even as Republicans were sinking in the polls.
"We left a lot on the table because we couldn't get our act together, but this is the best Mitch could do," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who will vote for the deal. "We need to stop the bleeding, lessen the damage to the party."
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) echoed that message.
"I hope it is another 15 years at least before we have to go through this exercise again," McCain said. "We're in a hole, we have to dig out and come up with a positive agenda."
Defeatist butthole media believing Republicans.
“When people finally see the Cluster-you-know-what that ObamaCare is, they will remember the Cruz was the only one with the guts to fight it.”
NO, THEY WON’T....
They will be told at every turn how GREAT! it is by the TV.
Every time they look at the tweets on the cell phone they will see celebrities telling them how great it is.
They will be told any problems THEY have with it just figments of their imagination, and that only CRAZY PEOPLE (or evil Christians) think it’s bad.
Study history. All of this has happened before...
It's an excellent question, and my answer may not be satisfactory to everyone, and I understand that, but there is a reason. Think of it in terms of Ho-Hos. You may recall how Hostess recently went out of business, and was then revived by new ownership. Their signature products are already back on the shelf and selling well.
OK, now imagine we closed Hostess and dumped everything about it, the brand, the infrastructure, the employee base, everything, and just started totally and absolutely from scratch, call the product, I don't know, SR's Chocolate and Cream Rolles, or something. Whatever. How long would it take to ramp up that totally new and unknown product to anywhere close to the same sales volume as the original Ho-Ho? Anywhere from a long time to never.
My point is, we need a big, sophisticated infrastructure and an established (if damaged) brand to be even remotely competitive in the short term. I tried getting a Constitution Party branch going in my neck of the woods. All I got was a handful of regulars and everybody else refusing to participate based on the fear we would just be diluting the Republican presence, thereby strengthening the liberals/leftists. There are many other barriers, with ballot access issues high on the list.
So actually getting a third party to work is going to be nearly impossible. If we really want to win, we must win by pushing the R party back to its platform via a massive grassroots infestation of the local party apparatus, combined with fresh and electrifying national leadership pulling us toward conservatism from the top. And primary all RINO’s, contra Ann Coulter’s advice. I see no other way forward, apart from divine intervention.
What you said.
(See post 159.)
I’m not sure if you chose to miss my point or not, so let me re-iterate it.
You’re complaining about the actions of Senators Cruz and Lee, as if there was something more they could have done and they have let us down as a result.
This, after they have taken unmitigated hell from both the Left and the Collaborators in our party for sometime now for resolutely standing for what is right, the defunding of Obamacare.
You are whining here, instead of staying the course.
Senators Cruz and Lee have done immeasurable good by flushing out the turds in our party and showing them for what they are and energizing the Tea-Party once again by showing us that there are some Senators and Congressmen who will fight for us.
Complaining about something as small as this action on their part right now, after the Gargantuan effort they just put in smells, badly.
The point is that electing Republicans to the both Houses and the presidency ended up with the same result: the growth of the federal government because few if any would take a stand when it came to defunding the beast.
At least you have a voice today!
Go vote for your patriot, Steve Lonegan.
Possibly. But this deal is such a disaster so so many levels it's not even funny. And to use a football analogy, this will be very difficult yardage to get back.
If Cruz can delay a vote only for 30 hours or whatever, then he must put reputation aside and do it. Maybe...just maybe...in 30 hours things will change. A delay can only help us. It can't hurt us.
He is NEVER going to be impeached.
Wake up from the dream.
Well, yes, sort of. But we are not an exact replica of all nations that have gone before us, and eventually even the most brainwashed among us will find the cognitive dissonance to be quite loud and annoying. People will look at their own situation and realize it doesn't match the propaganda. For some this will mean a deepening psychosis, for others, liberation. Collectivist tyrannies must always ultimately fail because reality doesn't lie. You really can't stop the signal.
Defunding was never an option. Heritage even said so. The real way to do this is by winning elections.
They chose their battles. They changed their tactics. Read some history.
I’m sorry, but doing a Pickets charge type attack against an entrenched enemy is not choosing the best tactic. AT ALL.
Public hates Obamacare. They do. That needs to be capitalized on by the GOP. Hitting that hard will win us the 2014 and 16 elections. Then we have the inner party debate/fight on how to proceed. We need numbers now. Not to divide and kill the party.
Go, Ted, Go! Sorry you don’t like him, but Cruz is the real deal. A pro-God, pro-life, pro-family, pro-small government, strong defense, constitutionalist Reaganite conservative and a fighter. A winner for constitutional rights. One of the best we have. Check his record as Texas Solicitor General.
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