There is no spin; the legislation FAILED precisely because of Cruz. That was the intent all along.
Yes, it was a ruse to pretend to support it while eviscerating it from within, Ted Cruz is actually guilty of not being a dammed fool.
Amnesty died because candidate Dave Brat beat House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Period. Dave Brat campaigned exclusively against amnesty and he won. The unknown ousted the GOP Majority Leader on amnesty, after that no one in the House was going to vote for the gang of 8 bill.
http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2015/12/17/just-how-close-was-the-2014-amnesty-vote-heres-the-back-story/