The government funding bill likely has enough votes to pass the Senate, but the problem is that several Republican senators are holding up a vote on the bill unless they get to vote on undoing Obama’s immigration executive orders.
Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT) threw the Senate into chaos because they want to vote on stopping President Obama’s executive orders.
According to The Hill, Cruz and Lee are going to force the Senate to move as slowly as possible,
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Sen. Ted Cruz, the firebrand conservative freshman from Texas, has blown up the Senate leadership’s plans to have a peaceful weekend by forcing round-the-clock votes on President Obama’s nominees and the $1.1 trillion omnibus.
Cruz took to the floor late Friday to castigate congressional leaders for trying to pass the 1,600-page spending bill after only a few hours of debate and questioned the resolve of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to fight Obama’s executive order protecting five million illegal immigrants from deportation.
“Even though millions of voters rose up just one month ago to protest how President Obama and the Senate Democrats were running Washington, business as usual is continuing inside the marble halls of the United State Congress,” Cruz said in a fiery floor speech.
Because of objections from Cruz and his ally Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), the Senate will begin slogging through procedural votes on nominees starting at noon Saturday and vote to end a filibuster of the omnibus spending package at 1 a.m. Sunday morning.
The final vote on the government funding bill might not happen until as late as 7 AM on Monday morning. Cruz isn’t gumming up the works because he objects to the government funding bill. The Texas senator has no problem with the massive gift to Wall Street, and the rider giving the Koch brothers more power to buy elections.
Sen. Cruz is angry because he didn’t get a worthless show vote on President Obama’s immigration executive orders. Cruz and Lee didn’t get enough of the spotlight, so they are creating drama and chaos. Ted Cruz is trying to build a 2016 presidential campaign off of Senate grandstanding, so this is no surprise.
His behavior demonstrates the pettiness of Republicans who more interested in making anti-Obama gestures than governing. There are lots of good reasons to object to the government funding bill. Throwing a temper tantrum and abusing the power of a senator over not getting enough of the spotlight isn’t one of them.
Even as the least productive Congress fittingly limps towards the finish line, the Republican Obama hate remains the fuel that drives their obstruction. Republicans aren’t going to suddenly grow up and begin legislating when they take over the Senate, so the country should prepare itself for two more years of drama and chaos.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
