Sen. Ted Cruz arrives at the Capitol as the Senate votes to approve a $1.1 trillion spending package on Jan. 16. It may be the last sign of progress for a while.
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is slamming his party for caving to Democratic demands to raise the debt ceiling, saying in a new interview that GOP leaders misled constituents with a “show vote.”
“Republican leadership said, ‘we want this to pass, but if every senator affirmatively consents to doing it on 51 votes, then we can all cast a vote no and we can go home to our constituents and say we opposed it,’” Cruz, the tea party favorite, said in an interview with CNN airing Thursday. “And listen, that sort of show vote, that sort of trickery to the constituents is why Congress has a 13 percent approval rating.”
Cruz’ consistent criticism from the right of the GOP leadership peaked with a filibuster attempt earlier this month, in which he tried to block a vote to raise the debt cieling. A handful of Republicans voted with Democrats to break Cruz’s filibuster, though the Senate eventually voted along party lines to extend the debt ceiling for a year.
“In my view, we need to be honest with our constituents,” Cruz said. “And last week, what it was all about was truth and transparency. I think all 45 Republicans should have stood together and said, of course not.’”
[CNN]