GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas
Senate Republicans are still looking for a way to fund the Department of Homeland Security by the Feb. 27 deadline after the House GOP
sent them a bill that was so anti-immigrant it was DOA in the Senate.
But here's the rub, from Manu Raju and Seung Min Kim:
Republican leaders hope to reach a deal that would allow Homeland Security funding to continue past Feb. 27, without making it appear to their right flank that they are caving to the White House.
Good luck with that.
They're reportedly looking at three options, including passing a new funding bill that strengthens border security, suing to overturn President Obama's executive actions, or approving another short-term measure to fund DHS in order to buy time so they can come up with even more great ideas.
Never mind, none of this is going to work since Uncle Ted's already on the case.
“We need to honor our commitments,” [Sen.] Cruz said in an interview Tuesday. “Republicans all over the country campaigned, saying, ‘If you give us a Republican majority in the Senate, we will stop President Obama’s illegal and unconstitutional amnesty.’ We should do exactly what we said we would do.”
Meanwhile, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) warned that abusing the appropriations process might turn into a "continual" battle.
“It may be that it’s not always going to be the case that appropriation bills are the best way to achieve our goals,” Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican, said in an interview Tuesday.
This is beautiful. Last Congress, Cruz rallied House Republicans to use funding bills as a way to antagonize Senate Democrats. Now the House GOP is using funding bills to bully Senate Republicans.