Ted Cruz Declares Reid Head of the GOP Senate – After Spat Over Defunding Planned Parenthood
Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) 58% introduced a resolution to temporarily fund the government, which Republican Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100% equated with lack of leadership. Cruz said that in his estimation, McConnell is no longer the leader of the majority GOP congress.
According to Cruz, “The position of Republican leadership boils down to this: They will support 100% of the priorities of Democrats.” He went on to say that, “the leader in the Senate is Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) 14% because Republican leadership has said nothing will pass without Reid ‘s support. Today, the leader in the House is Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) 16%.”
Though McConnell did move to temporarily block funding to Planned Parenthood, he obstructed Cruz’s goal of permanently defunding the controversial organization. Planned Parenthood has received a great deal of public scrutiny and is under investigation for a series of clandestine videos involving baby body parts. It is now a major part of the Senate budget talks.
The bill that McConnell moved to bring up would fund the government through Dec. 11 and would halt funding for Planned Parenthood. It is expected, however, that Senate Democrats will filibuster the plan on Thursday, following the Pope’s address to a joint session of Congress. At that point, McConnell is planning to bring up a clean funding bill–one that continues the funding to Planned Parenthood.
Cruz opposes McConnell’s plan and has said that a continuing resolution should stop all of the group’s public funding and also require the White House to disclose the full details of the nuclear agreement reached with Iran. “We should not be content with simple show votes, which is Republican leadership’s favorite strategy,” Cruz implored. “My focus is on urging leadership to actually lead.”...
http://www.redstate.com/diary/candicelanier/2015/09/23/ted-cruz-declares-reid-head-gop-senate-spat-defunding-planned-parenthood/
