Ted Cruz Has Infuriated Republicans All Over Again In The Ongoing GOP Civil War Over Obamacare
Senate rules make it difficult for Cruz's plan to "defund Obamacare" through the continuing resolution to get through the Democratic-controlled Senate, as it did through the Republican-led House of Representatives last Friday.
Cruz calls them "procedural gimmicks" by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, but they are in keeping with normal Senate rules. A Republican filibuster would have to come before Democrats introduce an amendment to strip the language in the House-passed bill that defunds Obamacare.
So to build pressure on the Senate, Cruz said on "Fox News Sunday" that any GOP senator who does not filibuster is supporting Obamacare - even though, in filibustering, they would essentially be endorsing a government shutdown.
"Any vote to allow Harry Reid to add funding - a vote for cloture is a vote for Obamacare," Cruz told Fox News' Chris Wallace. "And I think they will stand side by side and listen to the people and stop this train wreck that is Obamacare."
Like House Republicans did last week, Senate Republicans brushed back at Cruz on Sunday.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said the debate over a shutdown had to be based in "reality" - and the reality, he said, is that Republicans don't have the votes in the Senate. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) threw shade at Cruz by lauding Coburn's comments afterward.
And according to National Review's Robert Costa, GOP Senate aides are now fuming at the position Cruz has put them in:
Then again, the aide Costa spoke with said he couldn't go on record for fear of being fired for putting distance between GOP senators and Cruz.
Amanda Carpenter, a senior communications adviser and Cruz speechwriter, pushed back on the attacks against Cruz on Twitter: