Posted on 07/26/2015 5:38:25 PM PDT by VinL
Ted Cruz just wanted a roll-call vote on Sunday. Instead, he got a smackdown.
Republican leaders, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), delivered what senators described as punishment for Cruz’s brazen floor tactics — the Texas senator first accused McConnell of lying and later sought to change Senate procedures in order to push for an Iran-related amendment.
So when Cruz came to the floor looking for 16 senators to agree to hold a roll-call vote, only three raised their hands. McConnell, sitting at his desk, turned around and peered at Cruz, who looked stunned at what had just happened. The Senate dispensed with his effort by a voice vote and quickly moved on, doing the same to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a Cruz ally who sought to use arcane procedures to force a vote on defunding Planned Parenthood.
It all went down in an instant, but the message was clear: If Cruz doesn’t want to play nice with his Republican colleagues, they will respond in kind.
“You learn that in kindergarten: You learn to work well together and play by the rules,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a close McConnell ally who was beaming after Cruz and Lee were handed such lopsided defeats. “Another thing you learn in kindergarten is to respect one another.”
The rebuke was the latest in an increasingly testy rivalry marked by accusations of deceit and grandstanding. Cruz, who is running for president, has sought to use his battles with his colleagues — on everything from the 2013 government shutdown to last year’s battle over the debt ceiling — to tell conservatives that he’s the one candidate who will take on an entrenched party leadership. But Republican senators view Cruz as a divisive figure who is only seeking to lift his profile by waging war with his colleagues.
Cruz, his voice rising, tore into McConnell just off the Senate floor.
“Granting a sufficient second for a roll-call vote is done customarily in the United States Senate,” Cruz told reporters. “Denying it is extraordinary, and it was done as a consequence of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell being afraid of this issue.”
He accused McConnell of scheming with Democratic leader Harry Reid.
“To see the so-called Republican leader whip against allowing a vote to defund Planned Parenthood … makes clear that the McConnell-Reid leadership is united in favor of Big Government,” Cruz charged.
The dispute stems from McConnell’s move on Friday to prioritize two amendments to a bipartisan highway bill: one that would revive the Export-Import Bank and another to repeal Obamacare, both at a 60-vote threshold. Renewing the charter of the Ex-Im Bank has the support of more than 60 senators and the business community. But Cruz and other conservatives say the bank amounts to corporate welfare.
The Senate voted 67-26 to move toward attaching a renewal of the bank charter to a must-pass highway bill. The Obamacare effort failed on party lines, 49-43.
The battle over the government agency stemmed from negotiations over a major trade bill in May. To win the support of three holdouts — Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) — McConnell promised that an effort to extend the Export-Import Bank’s charter would get a vote on the Senate floor.
But in Cruz’s telling, McConnell “looked” him and “every” member of the Senate Republican Conference in the eye and promised that the only assurance he gave was that the senators could offer the bank plan as an amendment on the floor.
On Friday, McConnell took procedural steps to allow the bank plan to be offered as an amendment to the highway bill. Afterward, in a fiery floor speech Friday, Cruz accused McConnell of telling a “flat-out lie” by shifting his plans to move the bank measure.
Republicans were taken aback, noting that the Senate has rules barring members from impugning the integrity of another senator — much less a party leader.
“I think it was a violation of the rules,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). “It’s not how you treat a colleague regardless of how you feel.”
Tillis and several other GOP senators said Cruz’s rhetoric backfired.
“It’s very unfortunate,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). “I know emotions run high on issues in the Senate, and those are the times when I think we have to take special care to abide by the rules of the Senate, particularly Rule 19, which is very clear that no senator is to impugn the integrity of another senator.”
Cruz denied that he violated any rules. And he lashed out at the Capitol Hill press corps for not investigating whether McConnell lied.
“In the entire course of this debate neither the majority leader nor any other senator has denied that he looked me in the eye and he looked every other Republican senator in the eye, and he flat-out said” there was “no deal on the Export-Import Bank. But he answered the subsequent question: Will you do anything to press it forward and press a vote?
“He told us this: I haven’t given them anything, I told them they could do what any other senator did. But what we saw on Friday is that statement was on its face objectively false.”
Cruz added: “There have been no stories about whether Mitch McConnell told the truth.”
In interviews, several Republican senators said they could not recall a confrontation between McConnell and Cruz in a party lunch, as Cruz described it on Friday. They also said they were not surprised that McConnell forced a vote on the Export-Import Bank because he’s been saying he would for weeks, publicly and privately.
“There was no misunderstanding,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.).
Similarly, Graham said that he went to the floor and told reporters on the day of the trade vote what the deal was: that McConnell would let proponents attach the Ex-Im Bank plan to the highway bill.
“Unless you have been completely missing in action, you’d know this day was coming,” Graham said. “I did a press release and floor statement” reiterating McConnell’s promises.
“I think he’s going down a road very few senators go,” Graham said of Cruz.
“Let’s even assume that he’s right, which he wasn’t, you still don’t do that,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said of Cruz’s floor antics. “My understanding is that Mitch McConnell told us what he was going to do.”
On Friday, Cruz announced his plans to push for his separate Iran amendment that sanctions on the country could not be lifted until the country recognizes Israel’s right to exist and frees four American hostages. His argument: If the leadership can attach unrelated amendments like the Ex-Im measure, senators should be allowed to move on the Iran amendment, as well.
But the process he employed sparked major concerns among Republicans, who worried it would set a dangerous precedent, throw the Senate’s procedures into disarray — and be difficult to explain to voters.
Then Lee tried to push through a vote on defunding Planned Parenthood. That, too, failed to muster enough support for a vote. On Monday, Lee is expected to try to repeal Obamacare with a simple majority vote of 51 senators, effectively circumventing the 60-vote requirement to break a filibuster after Democrats defeated an attempt to repeal the health care law on Sunday.
Cruz’s Texas colleague pointedly shot down his effort. Sen. John Cornyn, the GOP’s chief vote-counter, called Cruz’s strategy “a terrible mistake” and urged Republicans to vote against it, a rare public disagreement.
“If the rule that the junior senator from Texas is arguing for is embraced, we will lose all control of the Senate schedule. There will be chaos,” Cornyn said. “Any senator who wants to get a vote on an amendment will be entitled to do so and that can’t be the rule. It’s not the rule. It’s never been the rule.”
I’m with Cruz. I’m sick & tired of the lies, the backroom deals, the pretending while running as a candidate to be a conservative then to go totally against every aspect of the Truth. These guys are mostly scumbags and I pray that the republican voters see the truth.
That is how revolutions get started.
If you don’t have the gonads for the fight then go home and hide in the closet.
CRUZ/ TRUMP need to jump on a third party ticket or TRUMP/CRUZ I think the time is NOW or NEVER!!!!! Trump has the money and I have NEVER seen the citizenry soooooo pissed off with the ENTIRE government BOTH PARTIES!!!!!!!
Cruz is getting my money for sure after this. The Rino clowns are much more concerned about protecting the status quo than doing what they were recently put in the majority to do. And of course they aren’t the least bit concerned about whether or not what Cruz says was true. This just confirms to me why I am no longer a member of the Republican Party and why the national party gets no financial support from me. Keep doing the right thing Ted.
And lets just admit the truth which is that the Republicrat party is a cabal of traitors intent on securing their place at the table.
At least he’s making the attempt.
I’d rather have an honest man call them what they are LIARS, than a dishonest man, just “getting along”
That’s why having Trump is a good thing....he can go toe-to-toe with the GOPe in a way Cruz can’t.
Let the chaos begin.
I agree.
The GOP is too far gone.
I say Trump/Cruz should go for the republican nomination, and if it looks like a no-go then they should bail and form a third party.
At that point there will be nothing to lose.
I will not support the uniparty under any circumstances.
Post of the day.
Yep. They don’t like being exposed.
No, Ted Cruz showed that he is a Patriot who will fight for the people against the forces of corruption in Washington. This is a real life case of Mr. Smith goes to Washington. Its up to us now to make sure that in the end good triumphs.
Good points all. I used to like Bush-43, but he was a huge disappointment. Too many stupid decisions. Trump is getting most flak from GOPe, and that includes Jeb, Walker, Rubio, Graham, Perry etc.
Cruz got proved to be 100% right about their mendacity and self preservation vs. the Freedom of the People.
GO CRUZ!!!
Lamar!'s day will come, as it will for the rest of them.
Yeah, you are right. What we need is more Republicans who keep their mouths shut, hands open and an ample supply of lube in their pocket.
As a supporter of Ted Cruz and what he is trying to accomplish as a representative of this country I felt the look McConnell gave Cruz as though he looked right at me. The man is abusing his power and needs to be replaced as the leader of the Senate.
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