'Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) criticizes Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for filing an amendment to the highway funding bill to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank and preventing senators from offering additional amendments by filling the amendment tree. He calls Senator McConnell's actions "procedural abuse" and compares his tactics to those of now-Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) when he was majority leader.' (Caitlyn Hillyard)
Ted Cruz took to the Senate floor Friday and charged that Mitch McConnell told a “lie,” escalating his campaign against GOP leaders and challenging the traditions of the usually decorous chamber.
In a scathing floor speech, the Texas firebrand accused the Senate majority leader of breaking his word to him and the rest of the GOP conference over McConnell’s plans for the controversial Export-Import Bank, the country’s chief export credit agency. In Cruz’s telling, McConnell privately promised him and other Republicans that “there was no deal” with a handful of senators who were seeking to revive the bank in exchange for their votes to advance a major trade bill in May.
McConnell, he said, became “visibly angry” when Cruz challenged him on the matter during a meeting in May.
“Like St. Peter,” Cruz said, “he repeated it three times. He said, ‘The only thing I told the proponents of the Export-Import Bank is like any other senator in this body, they could offer any amendment they liked on an any amendable vehicle, but I gave them nothing.’”
That day in late May, Cruz said his staff informed him that McConnell was “lying” to him, but he said he believed the Senate GOP leader that “he wasn’t lying to us.”
But after McConnell took procedural steps Friday to move to a proposal to revive the Ex-Im bank, Cruz said on the Senate floor: “I cannot believe he would tell a flat-out lie.”
What we saw today was an absolute demonstration that not only what he told every Republican senator, but what he told the press over and over again was a simple lie,” said Cruz, a fierce opponent of the bank. “The majority and minority leader, arm-in-arm again, should not team up against the American taxpayers.”
The attack is unusual even for Cruz, who has made his battle with Senate Republicans a centerpiece of his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination. Senators tend to avoid directly calling out specific senators on the Senate floor — particularly from their own party and especially their own party leader. Senate rules say, “no senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another senator or to other senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a senator.”
Asked to comment, McConnell smiled and walked away. Sen. John Cornyn, a fellow Texas Republican and McConnell’s chief deputy, said he was reviewing Cruz’s remarks and would not comment further.
President Obama pushed Congress to extend the Export-Import Bank when lawmakers return to Washington next month.
The Export-Import Bank, which provides financing for projects designed to increase U.S. exports, is scheduled to shut down on Sept. 30 unless Congress acts to prevent it.
In his weekly address Saturday, Obama said that the risks of allowing the bank to shut down would be too great.
“We should be doing everything we can to accelerate this progress, not stall it,” he urged. “Small business owners have had to overcome a lot these past several years. We all saw local businesses close their doors during the crisis. And in the past few years, we’ve seen more and more open their doors and do their part to help lead America’s comeback. At the very least, they deserve a Congress that doesn’t stand in the way of their success.”
Republicans have been divided over whether the Ex-Im Bank should be renewed. Some conservatives have argued the bank is a form of corporate welfare, but Democrats have said the program is needed to keep the United States economically competitive with countries that heavily subsidize industries.
Obama said in his address there was precedent for bipartisan support for the Ex-Im Bank in the past.
Barack Obama was against the Export-Import Bank Before He was For It ...
“Past Congresses have done this 16 times, always with support from both parties,” he said. “Republican and Democratic presidents have supported the bank, too. This time around shouldn’t be any different. Because the bank works. It’s independent. It pays for itself. But if Congress fails to act, thousands of businesses, large and small, that sell their products abroad will take a completely unnecessary hit.”
He also urged voters to contact their representatives about the pending Ex-Im reauthorization during the remainder of the congressional August recess.
“Your members of Congress are home this month,” he said. “If you’re a small business owner or employee of a large business that depends on financing to tackle new markets and create new jobs, tell them to quit treating your business like it’s expendable, and start treating it for what it is: vital to America’s success. Tell them to do their jobs – keep America’s exports growing, and keep America’s recovery going.
In a scathing floor speech, the Texas firebrand accused the Senate majority leader of breaking his word to him and the rest of the GOP conference over McConnell’s plans for the controversial Export-Import Bank, the country’s chief export credit agency. In Cruz’s telling, McConnell privately promised him and other Republicans that “there was no deal” with a handful of senators who were seeking to revive the bank in exchange for their votes to advance a major trade bill in May.
