While the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has voted to repeal Obamacare over 50 times, the Senate, under Democratic leadership, hasn’t quite measured up.
That could all change if Republicans are elected to a majority of seats tomorrow and if Senator Ted Cruz gets his way.
During an interview with the Washington Post published yesterday, Cruz said he wants to force a series of votes to repeal the law and force the president to veto every one.
Cruz also would like the Senate to be as aggressive in trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act as the House, which has voted more than 50 times to get rid of the law.
Republicans should “pursue every means possible to repeal Obamacare,” Cruz said, including forcing a vote through parliamentary procedures that would get around a possible filibuster by Democrats. If that leads to a veto by Obama, Cruz said, Republicans should then vote on provisions of the health law “one at a time.”
Cruz wouldn’t give a straight answer to the Washington Post when asked if he would support Mitch McConnell as majority leader and I expect that he never will.
Not being the majority leader serves Cruz quite well because he can rail against leadership without being forced to show any leadership himself.
If Republican hard-liners actually follow through on their threats, the president’s veto pen could be busy. I remain skeptical, however, that the Republicans will actually be able to stop fighting amongst themselves long enough pass half of what they want.
House Republicans haven’t been able to pass much of anything even though they’ve had majority control since 2011.
The race for the GOP nomination in 2016 will heat up in the coming months and most of the party’s hopefuls would sell their own grandmother if it was politically advantageous to do so.