Obamacare Repeal Vote Attached to Highway Funding Bill Fails – Cortney O’Brien

It marked the next turn in Cruz’s long-running feud with McConnell and his leadership team, which have become the first-term senator’s foils on the campaign trail as he rages against the “Washington cartel”, his euphemism for what he contends is a bipartisan consensus of maintaining the status quo.

“Obviously I’m generally supportive of the export import bank and we need to get that taken care of”, Congressman Tom Reed said. “Such misuses of the Senate floor must not be tolerated”.

On the floor of the Senate Friday, Texas Sen. and GOP candidate for president Ted Cruz blasted McConnell’s move.

“Speaking the truth about actions is entirely consistent with civility”, Mr. Cruz said.

The Senate was meeting Sunday to vote on the bank as well as on a repeal of President Barack Obama’s health care law.

Despite his colleagues’ pleas for civility, Cruz declined to apologize or back down. He bemoaned the younger generation of senators for using their floor speeches to create “a forum for advancing personal ambition”. 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 who’s gone from being an occasional nuisance, to a threat to the Senate’s very ability to function with order. And by voice vote, the Senate defeated an attempt by Cruz to overturn a ruling made Friday that blocked him from offering an amendment related to Iran.

McConnell used a tactic called “filling the tree”, made popular by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid when he was majority leader to block Republicans from being able to offer amendments to Democratic bills.

Hatch didn’t mention Republican Sen. Some of Hatch’s remarks seemed to apply to him as well.

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. The Obama administration and many Democrats and Republicans in Congress support the bank, saying it helps American companies, large and small, compete against foreign firms whose governments provide loan guarantees or other supports. The Inspector General noted in a 2012 report to Congress that the bank failed to collect adequate credit information and history from borrowers and lacked sufficient compliance personnel relative to the increasing size of the bank’s finance portfolio, which is expected to exceed $140 billion by September 30, 2014.

Cloture was invoked by the Senate on the amendment to reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank by a vote of 67-26 on Sunday. Sixty votes were needed but the total was 49-43.

They’re amendments to a must-pass highway bill that the Senate is trying to complete ahead of a July 31 deadline. The Republican-controlled Senate still must vote on whether to approve the bank’s renewal, as well as on the transportation legislation.

Failure to pass a highway bill before the end of the month would mean payments to states for road and bridge projects could soon be reduced and spread out, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said Friday.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama also opposes the Senate’s plan to help fund the highway bill by reducing the 6 percent dividend paid by the Fed to member banks.

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.