Senator Ted Cruz just did the unthinkable — he went on the floor of the U.S. Senate to detail how his fellow Republican and colleague Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell lied to 54 Republican Senators, the press and the American people.
The lie? Swearing repeatedly that he had not cut a deal with Democrats to bring back a vote to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank.
The issue itself, while important, isn’t the issue. It’s the intent to deceive by our Republican leaders that is the issue. In spite of repeated assurances that Republicans oppose Ex-Im, no one is denying that Cruz is wrong. McConnell is indeed clearing the way for a vote.
Senator Harry Reid just tweeted “I commend @SenateMajLdr for setting up a vote to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank. This bill is critically important for U.S. businesses.”
McConnell apparently cut the deal during the Trade Promotion Authority vote — you know, the vote where Republican leaders paved the way for executive amnesty.. Senator Cruz did what very few elected leaders here in Virginia or in Congress will do: before the TPA vote, Cruz asked McConnell in front of all the Republican US Senators what was the deal on the TPA and was there a deal on the Ex-Im. Cruz said that McConnell was visibly angry that Cruz directly asked.
Why would he be angry? Because the way our elected leaders do business here in Virginia and in Congress is by counting on everyone to turn a blind eye. What you don’t know, you aren’t responsible for. So you just don’t ask. And woe to those who dare question leadership.
McConnell was on record that there was no deal. And when he brazenly cleared the way for the vote anyway, he counted on the “collegiality” of the Senate. Now that Senator Tom Coburn is no longer in the Senate, McConnell must have believed that no one would dare expose the truth. The stakes are high for any elected leader to talk about what really goes on in the inner sanctum of state and federal government. If they do, they’ll lose their spot on the prized committees, they’ll lose campaign cash from the leadership and, heck, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce might even target them if they get out of line.But Senator Cruz rightly points out that the Senate — our government — operates based on trust. “Even if we disagree on substance, that we don’t lie to each other.” Most of us expect and trust that our leaders are being honest with us in their governing practices.
Unfortunately this is just one example of the breakdown in truth by our leaders. The impact goes far beyond misleading us on this corporate welfare vote. Our Republican leaders have the majority in the House and in the Senate and they’re using it to carry the water for Democrat policy. We’re not talking about just fiscal policy but national security.
During the vote on the Iran Review Act, Senator Cruz said that McConnell rejected an amendment that would “actually put teeth in the Iran Review Act by requiring affirmative congressional approval before sanctions on Iran could be lifted.”
Where are the rest of the Republicans? Where is the outrage that they were lied to – that the American people are being duped? If our elected officials will stop tolerating these deceptive governing practices, it won’t happen.
Every Republican sound bite you hear where they are concerned about the security threat the Iran deal poses to America is just that — a sound bite. Republican leaders — whatever their motive — are doing nothing to stop this “deal” that our president has cut with Iran allowing them to build a nuclear bomb. Senator Mitch McConnell is the Republican Senate Majority leader and he blocked any amendment to the Iran Review Act, thus hamstringing the Senate’s ability to stop the lifting of sanctions embodied by Obama’s deal with the ayatollahs.
All it will take to turn this around is just a handful of our elected Republican leaders to stand alongside elected leaders like Senator Cruz when they are rightly pointing out that our leaders cannot govern in deception. As we can see, those who lead in deception may start off by doing so with policies that they think don’t have much impact, so they do it for the sake of political expediency. Deceiving is a means to the end of holding onto power.
But, as we can see now, it’s a slippery slope. Republican majorities in Virginia have raised taxes, propped up corporate donors, and cut their own deals at the expense of the people. And Republican majorities at the federal level are facilitating policies such as the “toothless” Iran Review Act that endanger America and our allies by allowing the lifting of sanctions on the number one state sponsor of terrorism.
All it takes is just a few of our elected leaders to stand fast to principle and truth, even if it means calling out our own Republican leadership. I admire Senator Cruz for informing the American people of the truth.
23 comments
Can’t agree on if the Republican Senate leadership are “dishonest or not and should be called out on the chamber floor (although the prima facie evidence is strong in support of the facts despite all the fervent denials)? I believe I have something we can all agree upon regardless of position supported, the gross stupidity and ineffectiveness of the current Senate majority leadership. Here are the simple facts.
We have two bills, the Senate’s version of the Federal Highway Funding Bill and the renewal of the Ex-Im Bank. The Ex-Im’s supporting coalition in the Senate is comprised of both establishment Republicans and Democrats, the minority opposition is among the conservative Senate members who do not appear to have the votes on a straight up or down vote to derail Senate passage. The significant opposition to the Ex-Im is in the House, regardless of Speaker Boehner’s expressed support. So a straight up or down vote by McConnell’s leadership team would have very likely moved it over to the House for consideration. He could have placed this on the floor for a vote at ANY time. The Highway bill is a very different proposition with two very distinct proposals. The Senate’s is a classic 6 year term, pork laden, 1,000 page compendium funded by budget reallocations from existing programs, while the House’s is under the development and tutelage of Rep. Paul Ryan, looking to fund off of increases in the international corporate business tax base, already the steepest in the world. Meanwhile, the House is proposing a “kick the can” interim solution until the Ryan proposal is fully fleshed out. Boehner has unequivocally stated that the Senate’s version will NOT be brought forward by the House, period. Clear?
So, McConnell attaches the Ex-Im renewal to the Senate’s version of the Highway Bill, “fills up the admendment tree” as former democratic Speaker Reid so often did in the past to stifle debate and discussion as well as block any additional amendments and rushes it to the floor for a vote. Its rather simple who this strategy is directed at NOT the Democrats, they would have been part of the Senate majority that would have passed the Ex-Im on a simple up or down vote, but his fellow Republicans in the House, both the conservatives and the Boehner team, who were not going to go along on the Senate’s Highway Bill. Into these back room dealings come the amendment issues from Sen’s Cruz and Lee, regarding the funding of Planned Parenthood and basing Obama’s Iran agreement and the lifting of sanctions only based on Iran recognizing Israel’s right to exist. McConnell effectively shut the door on these (what ever his previous commitments may or may not have been) and Cruz takes to the floor and calls out McConnell’s actions insinuating he has lied, with the resulting horror of fellow Republicans hearing leadership being accused of not having been completely truthful, while they are in fact attempting to railroad fellow House Republicans by manipulating amended legislation that was never required to see passage in the first place.
The final McConnell farce is that Sen Lee, being very wise in the floor mechanism’s of Congress reintroduces the aforesaid Planned Parenthood and Iran amendments by using an infrequently employed tactic of introducing an amendment to an amendment (in this case McConnell’s Ex-Im amendment to the highway bill) and puts McConnell and his farce back on the hook for a floor vote. So McConnell’s final disgrace is to introduce a “non roll call vote” (voice acclamation or who can shout the loudest) on the two Lee amendments both of which are REJECTED. No fuss, no muss, no individual Senator vote audit trail. All of this disgraceful idiocy for an Ex-Im Senate vote that would have moved forward stand alone and a Senate Federal Highway funding bill that he had been clearly told would NOT be introduced in the House, period. If they didn’t claim otherwise it would seem the Republican majority is longing to return to their safe and comfortable backbench seats to wile away their days gently criticizing Democratic governance. Even Harry Reid said he was appalled by the whole thing and that is a final word hard to match.
And what unites the Majority leader’s approach to these disparate issues — highways, corporate handouts, and abortion?
A focused intent to keep taxpayer money flowing to people who shouldn’t have it to begin with.
This is exactly why sweeping out the squishy establishment leadership of the GOP is job #1 for the next election. As hard as it is to knock those incumbent leaders out in their own district/state, we should be backing any candidate that will hold them accountable, i.e. not voting them back into a leadership position. Lack of integrity is why this feckless bunch continues to lose the support of the base, not “overselling” their ability to legislate like some have suggested. Maybe it is time to start supporting The Donald.
I would say that the rest of the field had better start taking cues from what both Trump and Sanders are doing, each for their side. Speak the truth and speak about the real world where people live, not some sort of fantasy they try to peddle, or both sides will end up with very unexpected and unconventional nominees, according to what their standards are. You would not believe the amount of people that have walked up to me and said they are disgusted with the republican party; and anyone that says what they are thinking will grab their attention and perhaps ultimately get their vote. We are in desperate times, and desperate times require desperate measures.
Both Mike Lee and Marco Rubio have stated that Cruz is accurately describing what happened. The only lying going on here is coming from the party leadership, and people have had enough of this garbage.
I haven’t seen either of them backing up what Cruz said. Where was this?
Mark Levin’s show and in a couple of TV programs.
I haven’t seen any press reports indicating Rubio or Lee backed up Cruz. Was this the,mdirectly,or others saying they did?
Rubio was in an interview on fox, I do not remember what program. Levin confirmed the veracity of what Cruz has stated.
I don’t know where Levin is getting his facts from, but in my conversations with folks, never once did any Senator say McConnell didn’t tell the caucus that he’d said Ex-Im wouldn’t get an amendment vote.
I have to find that Rubio interview because it doesn’t make sense to me why he’d back up Cruz when no one else has.
McConnell made it clear that he would allow a vote on an amendment regarding Ex-Im Bank. He told everybody this months ago, and it was never a secret. He followed through on that.
Cruz is wrong. What he is claiming never happened, and multiple Senators, including his seat mate John Cornyn have disputed his claims regarding confronting McConnell on this issue.
Senator Cruz is running for president the absolute wrong way – violating Senate rules, impugning the integrity of his colleagues and trying to use the well of the Senate to get headlines and demagogue the Republican leadership. It’s flat out wrong and nobody who cares about the future of the party and our country should be praising him for it.
Brian, each quote from Cornyn and Hatch that I read rebuked Cruz for breaking Senate rules of decorum. They did not dispute the substance of Cruz’s claim that McConnell repeatedly assured Republican Senators there was no deal and that he was opposed to Ex-Im. Lying includes the intent to deceive. Senator Cornyn scolded Cruz for not understanding procedure. The irony is these Senators are indignant that Senator Cruz isn’t loyal to the “truth” of the process (Senate Rules, decorum, etc) but they’re just fine that the Republican Senate Majority Leader isn’t loyal to truth in governing. We as a party cannot criticize democrats like President Obama and Hillary Clinton for lying about Benghazi or the Iran deal but then turn a blind eye when our own Republican leaders are lying. And anyone who thinks it’s ok for Republican leaders to lie and to lead in deception not only do not care about the future of our party, but they don’t care about the future of our country. If the people cannot trust their leaders or trust our government then our nation’s future is bleak.
Not one Senator has backed up Cruz’s version of events. Cornyn specifically said that what Cruz said was a mistake and there were no misrepresentations made by the Majority Leader. That’s almost a verbatim quote.
They are rightfully indignant that any Senator would violate Rule 19 of the Senate and impugn the integrity of another Senator, and that indignance is doubled by the fact that it was one Republican attacking another. That Cruz couldn’t even get the requisite second on his motion for a roll call vote to override the chair on his Iran grandstanding amendment Sunday afternoon speaks volumes as to how many Senators were upset by his behavior.
McConnell didn’t lie. Cruz did break the rules and his behavior was out of line and does not deserve applause. McConnell opposes the Ex-Im Bank, but he also recognizes that his opinion represents a minority view. He said he’d allow a vote on an amendment and he did. I have no idea where the lie is.
I trust McConnell, Cornyn and the rest of the Republican leadership more than I trust a guy running for president, desperate to find a way to grab some headlines and bulk up his sagging poll numbers. They have no reason to lie. Cruz has a lot of reasons to manufacture fake drama at the expense of his own party.
A squishy establishment type would support the current squishy establishment GOP leadership. Tell us something we don’t all ready know.
We start out as children searching to find Easter eggs. We end up as adults searching to find the truth truth. The eggs were a lot easier to find. But we were just kids.
We have Obama this time around because the American people were tired of Washington. They are still tired of Washington.
So, look out this time around. It will not be a Jeb, unless they can figure out a way to “screw him” into the White House. “They” being Wall St..
But, it will probably be a freak show type candidate for the Republican’s. It has to be, to counter the freak show candidate the Dems are running.
I do not know the truth here. But I do know that it is a bunch of crooked lawyers pointing the finger at each other.
Yes, and you also are a member of the “Main Street Partnership” and are part of the problem with politics. So there’s that.
Not really.
ok i changed my mind
Good. About time.
Ted Cruz is like any other “get away” driver on his first bank heist.
Even if the other guys ((McConnell, etc.) went Into the bank to rob it with guns ablaze, while Cruz sat outside with the motor running. Cruz thinks he should get all the loot from his first bank job.
The difference is the bank they are robbing is the American people.
They are all nothing but a bunch of crooks. The American majority wouldn’t have it any other way.
Many long affiliated Republican Party members like myself are increasingly asking themselves exactly what is the Republican Party today under it’s current national and serving Congressional leadership? I know that I’m not alone in asking this question as a recent Pew Research Center survey which asked affiliated Republicans their “opinion of their party” produced an alarming drop from the 86% favorability percentage surveyed in January of this year to the 68% identified in July, a collapse of eighteen (18!) percentage points in a matter of a little over four (4) months. If you are one of the increasingly shrinking majority that still maintains that the Republican Party stands as the staunch defender of limited government and free markets then Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell recent actions, including an outright lie to his fellow Senators that no deal had been cut with interested Democrats during an earlier debate to revive a plan and simple piece of corporate entity welfare, the crony driven Export-Import Bank, by blocking out all other attempts to attach amendments to what he considered a “critical measure”, the pork packed 1,000 plus page Highway Bill is something you can completely buy into with no reservations. For the rest of us the clearly communicated point these actions send is that the the priority of the existing Republican party is NOT it’s base voters, but the corporatist constituency the Republican Party actually serves. And as we move forward toward candidate selection for the 2016 presidential election cycle it will be critical to always keep in mind that is solely WHY today’s Republican Party exists on the national scene.
Amen!
In my experience Republicans have a good ole boy hidden agenda and it does not include leadership.
I have meet with many State reps { R and D } , the D’s were more apt to learn the issue discussed and some even made more appointment time for me and me not being from their districts.
I have never had a Virginia Republican even understand The Virginia Employment Compensation Act , I wonder is that because they exploit it. Shame