Replies

I emailed Mr. Cornyn during the filibuster and said I was disappointed that he was there supporting Mr. Cruz. Here is his reply:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the Continuing Resolution (CR) and defunding of Obamacare. I know how passionately Texans feel about this issue, and I appreciate the benefit of your comments. All Americans should be exempt from the onerous and costly provisions of Obamacare and the best way to do this is to repeal and defund the law in its entirety.

Texans continue to share with me real-life examples of how this law is hurting businesses, killing jobs, and burdening individuals with costlier premiums. All Americans should receive relief from this law, so I was pleased when the House of Representatives chose to listen to the American people and sent the Senate a CR that funded the government and defunded Obamacare.

Because of procedural rules in the Senate, the only way for Senators to vote yes or no on defunding Obamacare was to vote for cloture, thereby allowing a simple majority vote to defund Obamacare. Only five Senate Democrats were needed to defund Obamacare. However, Democrats continued to ignore the pleas of the American people and stripped the language that defunded Obamacare. I joined with all Republicans to vote against the final Senate CR that included funding for Obamacare.

House Republicans continued to send reasonable packages to the Senate that would have funded the government but provided relief for Americans from this law, including bills that would have delayed Obamacare for a year, permanently repealed the Medical Device Tax, delayed Obamacare’s individual mandate, and required that Congressional members and staff live under the same rules as the American people. Senate Democrats rejected these reasonable compromises.

On Tuesday, October 1, 2013, the U.S. government funding authority expired, resulting in a government shutdown. Unfortunately, this shutdown did not prevent the implementation of Obamacare and the health care exchanges opened as scheduled.

At every opportunity to defund or repeal the law, I have voted in favor of doing so, and I will not waver in my opposition to this law. To read further about my efforts, please visit my website at: http://www.cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=senator-cornyn-record-on-obamacare.

I appreciate having the opportunity to represent Texas in the United States Senate. Thank you for taking the time to contact me.

Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN

United States Senator

the only way for Senators to vote yes or no on defunding Obamacare was to vote for cloture

That is so deceptive and dishonest trying to make his vote for cloture look like it was a vote against Obamacare when it was the exact opposite. YOU VOTED WITH HARRY REID so you can stay buddies with your DC friends and not fight for Texans now getting insurance cancellations then it was next to impossible to get any of your staffers on the phone!

Senate rejects Ted Cruz strategy 79-19; cloture invoked, Obamacare funding restored

I would speculate without much fear of contradiction, Mr Cornyn would explain our criticism of his vote something like: you varlets have no idea of how the Senate works.

If that is true, he should know that us varlets may have a "perception" of how the Senate SHOULD work....therefore get out there before shtf, and at least try to kill the perceived notion that most Senate R's are using weasel tactics to "fool" constituents?

My perception is that the Senate R's who voted for "cloture" in fact, voted for O/C to go forward. The proper vote was vote against cloture and let all who vote for get on the record as being FOR O/C going into affect.

Voting for cloture and then voting against O/C when they knew for sure that the D votes alone would prevail is the lowest kind of weasel-ality that I can think of.