Thread: In Funding Fight, Senate Republicans Back Away From Cruz

In Funding Fight, Senate Republicans Back Away From Cruz



By Courtesy of NBC
J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press

Senate Leaders Debate Health Care Law: Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, and Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, spoke on the Senate floor about alternatives to a government shutdown.

By JONATHAN WEISMAN
Published: September 24, 2013

While the Senate appeared increasingly likely to override Mr. Cruz in a preliminary vote scheduled for Wednesday, Mr. Cruz pressed ahead with his opposition and compared his fight to leaders who stood against the Nazis, ended the cold war or launched the American Revolution.

“Everyone in America knows Obamacare is destroying the economy,” he said as he began speaking shortly before 3 p.m.

Yet outside the chamber, his colleagues worked to actively thwart his efforts to block a vote to take up the House-passed bill that does precisely what he wants: funds the government through mid-December while defunding the Affordable Care Act.

Mr. Cruz was calling on his colleagues to stonewall a measure they technically supported, reasoning that Senate Democrats would be successful in stripping the health care provision from the funding bill once the way was cleared to a Senate vote on the measure.

But other Republicans said they saw no reason to oppose opening debate on a measure they actually backed.

“We’d be hard-pressed to explain why we were opposed to a bill we’re in favor of,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader.

Others warned of political repercussions if Senate Republicans, who hope to regain control of the Senate in next year’s elections, were seen as contributing to the government being shutdown. “Getting the majority in the Senate in 2014 is possible, and we don’t want to go down roads that make it harder,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who is up for re-election next year.
“Repealing Obamacare is a goal all Republicans share,” he added, “but the tactics of achieving that goal can have a backlash.”

Mr. Cruz’s lonely stand was not really a filibuster. The first vote in a multiday process to get to a final showdown is set for around 10 a.m. Wednesday. Mr. Cruz could talk until then, but he is not able to delay or thwart the vote itself. And only a handful of Republicans are expected to join him in voting against taking up the House bill.

Senate Republicans pushed Mr. Cruz Tuesday to give up his stalling tactics and let the Senate take its final votes as soon as possible to strip out the health care language and other policy prescriptions, then approve new language to keep the government operating until mid-November. An early vote would give Speaker John A. Boehner more time to plan his next move: whether to put the Senate-passed bill up for a vote and ensure no government shutdown or add new Republican-favored language and send it back to the Senate.

If Mr. Cruz keeps up his crusade, the final vote cannot happen until Sunday.

“I don’t know who else in the conference may feel differently, but I do know if the House doesn’t get what we send over there until Monday, they’re in a pretty tough spot,” Mr. McConnell said.

The Senate’s Democratic majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, moved Tuesday to change the House-passed bill, shortening the stopgap spending measure to fund the government through mid-November instead of mid-December. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland, the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, requested the change to raise pressure on the House to address the automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration, that are squeezing federal programs and are reflected in the spending plan passed by the House.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/us/politics/senate-democratic-leader-sets-stage-for-budget-showdown.html?_r=0

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