Republicans are really pissed off at Ted Cruz
Over the weekend Ted Cruz drew the wrath of the entire Senate, both Republicans and Democrats. How did he do that? Senators had expected to go home over the weekend to celebrate different events with their families.
Senators thought they all had a bi-partisan agreement that they would finalize after the weekend. New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte actually went home to attend “The Nutcracker” with her children. She had to run back to Washington DC. Other Senators had various plans. They were however stuck in Washington over the weekend as reported here.
Yet, Texas Senator Ted Cruz along with his wing man Utah Senator Mike Lee held the Senate hostage. They decided they would not abide by the agreement. Politico recaps the genesis of the fight as follows.
What provoked the fight in the first place were demands by both Cruz and Lee for a vote blocking Obama’s executive action to defer deportations on millions of immigrants in the country illegally. Reid would not allow a vote. They eventually got a vote on a point of order on the $1.1 trillion spending bill deeming Obama’s move unconstitutional, something Reid could not prevent because of Senate rules. But their point of order was soundly defeated Saturday night, 22-74, with 20 Republicans voting against Cruz and Lee in an apparent protest of their tactics.
Ted Cruz did something on Tuesday he never does. He apologized. That is equivalent to bringing him to his knees given his intrinsic conceit. Reuters reported his apology as follows.
A spokeswoman for Cruz said the senator apologized to his colleagues “for inconveniencing their personal schedules” over the weekend. But Cruz still believes, the spokeswoman said, that fighting for a vote to stop funding of President Barack Obama’s new program easing deportations for millions of illegal immigrants “was critically important.”
The apology to Republican senators came at a weekly closed-door lunch when Cruz, a possible 2016 presidential candidate, stood up and “was contrite and made an effort to explain to people he wished he hadn’t done it,” said a source familiar with what happened during the lunch meeting.
It will be interesting to see how many more shenanigans Ted Cruz pulls going forward. Any bets?