While trying to defend blowing off Loretta Lynch’s confirmation vote, Sen. Ted Cruz humiliated himself by getting the Senate rules on confirmation wrong.
Politico reported Cruz’s exchange with reporters:
In explaining why he missed the vote for the fundraiser, Cruz stumbled over the Senate’s confirmation rules. Senate Democrats lowered the filibuster threshold from 60 votes on nearly all nominees to a simple majority in 2013, and they remain there today.
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“Cloture was the vote that mattered, it required 60 votes,” Cruz said. Informed by reporters that’s not true, Cruz paused briefly and responded: “Fair point.”
Ted Cruz is a United States Senator. The rules of the confirmation process are something that he really should know. It is shameful that Cruz doesn’t seem to know the rules of his own job. After he blew off the confirmation vote, Sen. Cruz’s attendance record has come under scrutiny. Not only is Cruz taking a salary from the taxpayers while not bothering to show up for work, the Texas Republican appears to not know what he is being paid to do.
Cruz can make up any number of excuses, but none of them can hide the fact that one of his main duties as a United States senator is to vote on the president’s nominees. It isn’t difficult. All Cruz had to do was show up and vote yes or no.
It is bad enough that Sen. Cruz could be bothered to come to work; it is even worse that he doesn’t understand the basic rules of the job.
Ted Cruz wants to be the next president in the worst way, but if Cruz can’t figure out what his job is as a senator, he is not fit to be president.
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
