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Mitch McConnell denies Ted Cruz's claim of 'special deal' behind Senate vote Senior Senate Republicans rebuke Ted Cruz for Mitch McConnell 'lie' attack
(34 minutes later)
The Senate was on Sunday set to meet in a rare session. On the agenda were efforts to repeal President Barack Obama’s healthcare law and reviving the federal Export-Import Bank. Senior Senate Republicans lined up on Sunday to rebuke Texas senator Ted Cruz for attacking majority leader Mitch McConnell, in an extraordinary display of intra-party division played out live on the Senate floor.
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Both are amendments to a must-pass highway bill the Senate is trying to complete ahead of a 31 July deadline. If Congress doesn’t act by then, states will lose money for highway and transit projects in the middle of summer construction season. As the Senate met for a rare Sunday session, Orrin Hatch of Utah, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and John Cornyn of Texas each rose to counter a stunning floor speech Cruz gave on Friday in which he accused McConnell, of Kentucky, of lying.
Republicans have voted numerous times to repeal all or part of Obama’s health law, the Affordable Care Act, and their latest effort is not expected to attract the 60 votes needed to move forward. But Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said he was bringing it to a vote as a sweetener for Republicans, who also will have to vote on renewing the Export-Import Bank. None of them mentioned Cruz by name but the target of their remarks could not have been clearer.
The little-known federal agency makes and guarantees loans to help foreign customers buy US goods. The bank has become a rallying cry for conservatives, who oppose it as corporate welfare. But the bank commands the votes to prevail in the Senate, thanks to support from Democrats and some Republicans whose states are home to large employers such as Boeing and Caterpillar that sell worldwide. “Squabbling and sanctimony may be tolerated in other venues and perhaps on the campaign trail, but they have no place among colleagues in the United States Senate,” said Hatch, the Senate’s president pro tempore. Cruz is running for president.
McConnell committed several weeks ago to allowing the bank to come to a vote on the highway bill. “The Senate floor has even become a place where senators have singled out colleagues by name to attack them,” Hatch continued, “... and impugn their character in blatant disregard for Senate rules.
“Ex-Im shouldn’t be the only vote we take on this bill, and under the compromise I just filed, it won’t be,” McConnell said on Friday as he set up the votes. “First, it allows a vote on an amendment to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank, something nearly every Democrat wants. Second, it allows a vote on an amendment that would repeal Obamacare, something nearly every Republican wants, and something we will continue to fight for. “Such misuses of the Senate floor must not be tolerated.”
“That’s a much fairer way forward,” said McConnell. After Hatch spoke, Cruz rose to defend himself for making the accusation that McConnell had lied when he denied striking a deal to allow a vote to revive the federal Export-Import Bank.
But McConnell’s move drew an extraordinary denunciation from fellow Republican senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a presidential candidate. Cruz dismissed the healthcare vote as a meaningless “show vote” and accused McConnell of lying to him in denying that the leader had made a deal to bring the Export-Import Bank to a vote. He said he agreed with Hatch’s calls for civility but declared: “Speaking the truth about actions is entirely consistent with civility.”
Around 20 senators of both parties were on the floor to watch some of the speeches. Cruz’s floor speech on Friday had brought nearly unheard-of drama and discord to the chamber.
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 who has gone from being an occasional nuisance to being a threat to the Senate’s very ability to function with order.
Related: Ted Cruz accuses Mitch McConnell of 'flat-out lie' in rare Senate floor attackRelated: Ted Cruz accuses Mitch McConnell of 'flat-out lie' in rare Senate floor attack
Cruz’s inflammatory comments on the Senate floor on Friday, which McConnell ignored, suggested that bank opponents will not go down without a fight. McConnell said that given support for the Export-Import Bank, no “special deal” was needed to bring it to a vote.
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 is strong opposition to the bank as well as to the underlying highway measure. The little-known bank is a federal agency that helps foreign customers to buy US goods. Conservatives oppose it as corporate welfare and are trying to end it.
The Senate’s version of the highway bill, which is on track to pass later in the week, sets policy and authorises transportation programmes for six years. The Senate was meeting on Sunday to vote on the bank as well as on a repeal of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act. Both were amendments to a must-pass highway bill that the Senate is trying to complete ahead of a 31 July deadline.
The House has passed a five-month extension of transportation programmes without the Export-Import Bank attached, and House leaders of both parties are reluctant to take up the Senate’s version. If Congress does not act by then, states will lose money for highway and transit projects in the middle of the summer construction season.
Complicating matters, Congress is entering its final days of legislative work before its annual August vacation, raising the prospect of unpredictable last-minute moves to resolve the disputes on the highway bill and the Export-Import Bank.