Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Sen. Ted Cruz is once again at the center of a big Republican fight. By forcing a vote claiming that the bill funding the government was unconstitutional because it funded President Obama's immigration actions, Cruz bought Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
added time to get votes on Obama's nominees before the end of the lame duck session. So while Cruz and his allies are angry that 20 Republicans voted against him, plenty of Republicans are
pointing a finger at Cruz for any confirmations that get done this week.
Conservative groups are talking about challenges to Republicans who voted against Cruz, seven of whom are up for re-election in 2016:
“People’s votes may by themselves inspire folks to say: ‘I’m running against this guy or this girl,’” said Ken Cuccinelli, the president of the Senate Conservatives Fund. “I have a funny feeling that some people who weren’t thinking of running two weeks ago are thinking of running now.” [...]
“It is a missed opportunity,” said Dan Holler, spokesman for Heritage Action, the conservative group, referring to Saturday’s vote. “Conservatives will be paying very close attention to see if a Republican-controlled Congress will actually do what is necessary to stop Obama’s amnesty.”
Meanwhile, Cruz is on the defensive about the nominations Harry Reid moved forward thanks to Saturday's delay. As a host of Democrats took to Twitter to gleefully thank Cruz for the boost, pointing in particular to the
confirmation of Vivek Murthy as surgeon general, Cruz' communications director
responded:
The fact that Harry Reid called up Murthy right away on Monday proves this vote was going to happen with or without Cruz's amnesty vote
— @amandacarpenter
Okay, so we'll say Cruz is responsible for the last few confirmation votes the Senate holds this week. Although even that is generous, because if Reid had had less time to get confirmations through, the calculus might have been different on which ones to start with. And as Cruz
goes looking for money from top Republican donors, being the guy who helped Democrats win the lame duck may not be the image he was looking for.