Cruz on Sunday is asking the Senate to overturn a ruling that blocked him from offering his own amendment to the fedaeral highway spending bill. The House has passed a different plan, one without an Ex-Im renewal, putting pressure on both chambers to consider a short-term extension.
Advertisement
Unsurprisingly, the Obamacare repeal vote has failed to reach the 60 votes it needed to progress.
“I hope we don’t keep perpetuating the problems, and not looking squarely at what the country needs”, Foxx told reporters. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said there isn’t enough time for the House to take up the Senate bill. The measure is intended to leave time for talks on finding longer-term sources of money for infrastructure.
After cloture is reached on the Export-Import Bank amendment, senators will still be allowed to offer amendments to the highway bill, each of which would only require a simple majority to pass. It lacked sufficient compliance personnel relative to the increasing size of the bank’s finance portfolio, which is expected to exceed $140 billion by September 30, 2014.
“Obviously I’m generally supportive of the export import bank and we need to get that taken care of”, Congressman Tom Reed said.
McConnell, a Kentucky Republican who opposes reauthorizing the bank, on Sunday called it “a New Deal relic that has outlived any usefulness it might have had”. However, business groups and Democrats argue that the bank supports small businesses.
Another big issue is that the EX-IM Bank seems to be filled with mismanagement, fraud and corruption, according to many news articles about its history. Ted Cruz (R-TX) very publicly lambasted Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for including an amendment to the legislation that would reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, which many conservatives criticize as coporate welfare.
But on Sunday, senators voted, 67-26, to advance legislation to revive the bank across a procedural hurdle, making it likely that it will be added to the highway bill. McConnell committed several weeks ago to allowing the bank to come to a vote on the highway bill.
Despite his colleagues’ pleas for civility, Cruz declined to apologize or back down. McConnell has previously said he supports defunding Planned Parenthood, which was recently the subject of undercover sting videos in which executives with the organization can be heard discussing the sale of organs from aborted babies. The Texas Republican said the Obamacare amendment was “meaningless political theater” and an “empty show vote” that will fail. John Cornyn, Texas Republican – gave to Mr. Cruz, although they did not invoke his name.
“We now know that when the majority leader looks us in the eyes and makes an explicit commitment, that he is willing to say things that he knows are false”.
“Deliberation without decorum is not deliberation at all”, Hatch said.
Congress adopted a budget in May that would allow Republicans to use a procedure called reconciliation to bypass Democrats and send a repeal of Obamacare to the president’s desk.
Advertisement
Congressional Republicans last month acknowledged their options were limited in replacing Obamacare after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law’s federal subsidies.
