The Senate will be in session Sunday, but it is not known when the bill will come up for voting. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) arguing that the bank should be closed and Sen.
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But no lawmaker would second the Cruz or Lee motions to move their amendments, stopping them in their tracks.
As President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Hatch was tasked by GOP leaders with formally responding to the caustic nature of Cruz’s speech on Friday, which many believe violated a Senate rule against impugning the integrity of a fellow senator.
Hatch also read aloud from Senate Rule 19, which broadly prohibits one Senator from criticizing or questioning the motives of another on the floor. “I would never contemplate going to the floor of the Senate and impugning the integrity of another senator”.
After Hatch spoke, Cruz rose to defend himself for making the accusation that McConnell had lied when he denied striking a deal to allow the vote to revive the Export-Import Bank. “Speaking the truth about actions is entirely consistent with civility”.
The McConnell amendment was a show vote that was designed to appease those Senate Republicans who outraged over the vote to save the Ex-Im Bank.
Asked if he want to far during his Friday speech, Cruz instead blasted the press for not writing about whether or not McConnell lied about a deal. But the responses to it were just as remarkable, as senior Republicans united to defend an institution they revere and take down a junior colleague of their own party whom the appear to think has gone from being an occasional nuisance to a threat to the Senate’s ability to function with order.
Tempers flared Sunday as McConnell and his top lieutenants tried to publicly tamp down a conservative rebellion over the bank amid calls for civility among senators, but Cruz doubled down on his earlier assertion that McConnell had essentially told “a lie” by allowing the vote. American exporters are now cut off from a key source of financing, which makes their goods potentially less competitive in foreign markets.
Both are amendments to a must-pass highway bill that the Senate is trying to complete ahead of a July 31 deadline. If Congress doesn’t act by then, states will lose money for highway and transit projects.
This story has been updated.
On a separate vote, legislation to repeal Obama’s health care law failed to advance over a procedural hurdle.
Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn also defended McConnell.
The Senate voted 67-26 Sunday to advance a measure to restore the Export-Import Bank, which has been dormant since its charter expired at the end of June.
Even if supporters prevail in adding the bank to the highway bill in the Senate, the legislation faces an uncertain future in the House, where there’s strong opposition to the bank as well as to the underlying highway measure. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said he needs the five-month extension to try to forge a deal on a six-year highway bill that would be funded with changes in the tax code for multinational corporations.
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Complicating matters, Congress is entering its final days of legislative work before its annual August vacation, raising the prospect of unpredictable last-minute maneuvers to resolve the disputes on the highway bill and the Export-Import Bank.
