Posted on 07/26/2015 4:28:53 PM PDT by Isara
American people elected a Republican majority believing it would somehow be different from a Democratic one
Video of Sen. Cruz’s floor speech today
WASHINGTON, D.C. – After speaking on the Senate floor today, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) issued the following statement:
“We’ve just seen something extraordinary on the Senate floor. The American people elected a Republican majority believing that a Republican majority would be somehow different from a Democratic majority in the United States Senate. Unfortunately, the way the current Senate operates, there is one party, the Washington party.
“Senate leadership consists of the McConnell-Reid leadership team. They operate as a team. They support the same priorities. If you look at what has occurred in the United States Senate since the Republicans took a majority, we immediately returned after winning a historic majority to pass a trillion dollar ‘cromnibus’ bill filled with corporate welfare and pork. Then, the so-called Republican majority voted to fund Obamacare. Then, the so-called Republican majority voted to fund President Obama’s unconstitutional executive amnesty. Then, the so-called Republican majority voted to confirm Loretta Lynch as attorney general. Then, just moments ago, the so-called Republican majority voted to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, an egregious example of cronyism and corporate welfare.
“Every one of those is the priority of the Democratic leader Harry Reid. Every one of those is the priority of the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell. They operate as a team, expanding Washington and undermining the liberty of the people. What we just saw a moment ago is unprecedented in the annals of Senate history. It consisted of the majority leader and the minority leader denying members the ability to have votes on their amendments and indeed the ability even to have a roll call vote. The denial of a second, as you just saw a moment ago, which was aggressively whipped by the majority, is an extraordinary measure designed to gag Senators and enforce the will of the McConnell-Reid leadership team.
“It saddens me as a Republican to see Republican leadership lead the effort to kill an amendment that would have prevented lifting sanctions on Iran unless and until Iran recognizes Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and unless and until Iran releases American hostages. Make no mistake – granting a sufficient second for a roll call vote is done customarily in the United States Senate. Denying it is extraordinary, and it is done as a consequence of the majority leader Mitch McConnell being afraid for his members to be on record on this issue.
“We then, subsequently, saw Senator Mike Lee from Utah bring up his amendment to defund Planned Parenthood. We have seen in recent weeks gruesome videos of senior officials of Planned Parenthood discussing the selling of body parts of unborn children. These videos are horrifying, and yet it saddens me greatly that the Republican leader led the effort to continue the taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood.
“Make no mistake — when the majority leader whipped Republicans to vote alongside Democrats, it was no surprise that Democrats did not want to vote on that because Democrats in this chamber do not purport to support the right to life. But to see the so-called Republican leadership whip against allowing a vote to defund Planned Parenthood — it has the virtue of clarity. It makes clear that the McConnell-Reid leadership team is united in favor of big government spending and debt and power.
“The McConnell-Reid leadership team has no interest in cutting off one penny of funds to Planned Parenthood, which is why leader Mitch McConnell just blocked a vote on defunding Planned Parenthood. To the millions of Americans who rallied in November believing if only we got a Republican majority in the Senate something would be different, this was a clarifying and a sad moment.”
Video of Sen. Cruz’s floor speech today can be found above.
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Good for you. I'm sure Senator Cruz is doing the same. At the same time, he's doing the things I expected him to do when I voted for him.
No doubt, he'll do more, but one man alone can't fix this country. Try not to be so hard on him. He's doing more than any rep I've ever had in Congress.
+1
We’ll know by Nov 14th.
That’s the deadline for the Texas primary.
I’ve been a repub since my first vote for Nixon, and all though these long suffering years, I have always resisted a third party because our republic works better (or is supposed to work better) with two parties, the majority and the loyal opposition. If you want to see how multiple parties work, all you need to do is watch any parliamentary system anywhere.
I have changed my mind due to the GOP’s apparent marriage to corporatism and now totally disregarding the voters who elected them with only a few brave exceptional people. One of them, Senator Tom Cotton, was supported my me and I am throwing that same support to Ted Cruz.
The question is, what happens if Ted is not the nominee?
Well, that is where my change of mind comes into play. I do not know what will happen, but chances are good that if ted does not make it, I won’t be voting for the nominee.
So it’s write in, third party, or a no vote....
I hope it does not come to that.
Yep.
I even forgave people for voting for Mitt, because I very much understood the corner we were all backed into. The only thing I ever asked for, was honesty from them.
All I ever asked, is that they not sit there lying to themselves and others, and justifying their deed, by claiming that Mitt was somehow "better" than Obama. It's simply not true, and never was. Voters saw right through Romney, and either stayed home, or voted for the "better" liberal.
But there's hope. Since the election, I can't count the number of posts I've seen from people who've admitted they voted out of fear. Many of those same people are now determined to never be bullied like that again, and will let the whole thing blow up, rather than compromise their principles again.
YabbaDabbaDoo! LOL
I voted for Pat Buchanan instead of Dubya the first time. I still feel good about that vote.
This will have consequences.
Please let it be so. It's far past time for a cleansing reckoning in Washington.
i’m not an opponent of sen. cruz. in fact he got alot of my hard earned money when he was running for the senate. i of course couldn’t vote for him living in ca.
that being said: to those who have received much, much is expected. if sen. cruz really believes that d.c. is the uni-party, then he has exactly one honest course of action to take. straight logic. as one of one-hundred, he has much more influence than 1 of 300,000,000.
to use a metaphor, i’m doing what i can to plow my tiny patch of the field, but will he now put his hand to the plow in this same field, or will he continue to plow in his?
so far, i’ve seen most republicans continuing to plow in their own field.
Same here, though I wish I was just a little better prepared to 'light it up'.
That’s true enough..
I cast a vote for Romney, to prevent a second term Obama, knowing what was likely to happen.
Would it have happened anyway?
A bit differently and perhaps slower, but chances are he would have been a one termer..he was far from a great candidate.
But now we face a different reality.
It’s going to be Cruz or lose for me...but I won’t know for sure what I am going to do until after the convention.
I have a strong suspicion that we may be voting for Trump/Cruz next fall.
CRuz is so right. He better not back down and if he’s learned anything from Trump, double down on the damn thing and put these guys on point!! WE have your back Ted!
It’s possible...but I think it’s far too early for me to speculate...Trump is a wildcard..
Then why is his record as governor a mirror of Barrys as senator? Worse actually as Barry, in office was anti gay marriage and mitt signed it into Mass law.
Why has he done more damage post fail to conservatives than Barry has? Because both are documented fact.
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So, Norm, you’re seriously telling us that Romney would’ve had as his mission to:
* Embrace Iran and support them in their pursuit of nuclear weapons?
* Disrespect and put our greatest ally in the middle east, Israel, in eminent danger through his policies?
* Gut our military and turn into a liberal cesspool of social engineering?
* Destroy businesses...especially small businesses?
* Assault our religious freedoms?
As bad as Romney was, he didn’t hate the country! Only imbecilic A-holes like yourself found Obama to be a better option than Romney.
There will be no candidate good enough for you...ever!
Couldn’t get 51 votes???
....”one can enjoy what Trump is doing to the electoral landscape, breaking down the protective walls that keep the other lily-livered GOP candidates from talking about issues important to Americans, without being a supporter of his Presidential ambitions”....
Yes,.....and really no reason people shouldn’t understand that.
I’m for Cruz but I’ll keep on supporting what Trumps doing .......he’s engaged the voters and that matters.
They did not allow a vote..McConnell stuffed the vote tree..no amendments germane or otherwise.
Then I issue you the standard challenge. Prove with my own words where no candidate is good enough ever.
If I put as many knifes into conservatism and America’s back as you have in the last couple elections, I’d scramble for anything that could divert attention from it too. Lest we forget, you DID admit I was right about Romney before the dog and pony show of your denial...which ended with you providing the very post in which you said it.
And now you are back on the leftist bus with Lakeshark and Logical me and the other frauds that claim conservatism while denying the liberalism they pushed.
PROVE Romney’s record is anything but a mirror of Barrys apples to apples.
PROVE it. Don’t speculate. Prove by his actual record he would go 180 and be a conservative.
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