Is this guy working for the Democrats? LOL… Maybe he is.
On a simple vote to raise the debt ceiling, a move House Republicans had already passed with no strings attached, Ted Cruz made life extremely difficult for his comrades in the Senate. The measure to raise the debt ceiling in the Senate could have passed along party lines with a simple majority vote, but Cruz demanded that a 60 vote Super Majority threshold be met instead, forcing some of his Republican friends already facing heat from their home districts, to change their votes.
While the Senate Republicans scrambled and fight on the Senate floor to come up with enough votes to pass the measure, it has been reported that Senator Cruz sat with his eyes “glued to his mobile device as the chaos he provoked ensnared.”
After what seemed like an eternity, a grim-faced Sen. Mitch McConnell, the party leader who faces a tea party challenge back home, finally voted yes. An equally grim-faced Sen. John Cornyn, the party’s No. 2 leader and Cruz’s Texas colleague, changed his vote from no to yes.
Cruz showed no mercy in exposing Republican leaders to widespread criticism from their primary challengers over a procedural vote on the debt limit after their pronouncements about the imperative of spending cuts. It could have been a simple 50-vote requirement, with Democrats delivering the votes to lift the debt limit, but Cruz insisted
Pressed after the vote about what he made his leaders do, Cruz was unapologetic.
“It should have been a very easy vote,” he told reporters. “In my view, every Senate Republican should have stood together.” He added that the verdict on McConnell “is ultimately a decision … for the voters in Kentucky.”
McConnell’s GOP challenger, Matt Bevin, seized on McConnell’s vote to criticize him. The Madison Project, a conservative group backing Bevin, accused McConnell of giving President Barack Obama “a blank check.”
It wasn’t the first time Cruz, a tea party favorite, had created massive headaches for Republicans. Last fall, he and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, precipitated the 16-day government shutdown with their demand that Obama gut his 3-year-old health care law.
The quest had the backing of the Senate Conservatives Fund and other outside groups that raised millions during the process — and spent a good chunk of it to boost GOP challengers such as Bevin and Chris McDaniel, who is running against Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran.
This week, the conservative groups Heritage Action and Club for Growth urged Senate Republicans to oppose lifting the debt limit. Determined to avoid brinkmanship, the House voted for a debt limit with no strings attache. After Wednesday’s drama, the Senate followed suit.
