Houston Chronicle by Benjamin Wermund 12/22/2022
Split votes are part of a GOP rift over immigration policy that threatened to tank the massive funding deal.The Senate on Thursday approved a $1.7 trillion spending package — likely averting a government shutdown at the end of the week — with Texas Republican U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz splitting their votes, part of a GOP rift over immigration policy that threatened to tank the massive funding deal.
YESTERDAY: Rep. Chip Roy slams Sen. John Cornyn for spending bill vote: 'Tired old #SwampGOP'
Cornyn was among the 68 senators who supported the bill that funds the government for a year, sends more than $44 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine, includes major election reforms aimed at preventing another Jan. 6 attack and funds health care for veterans exposed to toxic chemicals from burn pits when they were deployed overseas.
"While I strongly believe the government funding process is broken and must return to regular order, we cannot abdicate our duty to our men and women in uniform and at our southern border and fail to provide them the resources to do their jobs," Cornyn tweeted. "Sometimes the lesser of two bad choices is all you have got."
The vote put him at odds with many in the Texas GOP, including Cruz, who was one of 29 senators to vote against the deal as conservatives sought unsuccessfully to use it to force President Joe Biden to maintain a COVID-era public health order that allows his administration to automatically expel most migrants.
More:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Cornyn-Cruz-split-as-Senate-passes-1-7-trillion-17671780.php?sid=5b0232662ddf9c12eaecd67e&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=HC_TexasTake
