Ted Cruz, Senator-Ted Cruz for President Committee

Senator Cruz, Republican of Texas, hasn’t made many if any friends in the Senate, but he seems not to care. He has, on the other hand, made quite a few friends in the House, particularly among the far-rightest of the right wing there. In the process, he’s made himself de facto Speaker of that particular group, which has caused the putative real Speaker and his leadership team huge amounts of grief.

His latest bomb-throwing exploit has made Boehner (Speaker) and McCarthy (Majority Leader) and Scalise (Majority Whip) pull an immigration bill already only one-fifth the size the Obama Administration identified as necessary from the floor because it couldn’t get the votes of his rump caucus. That meant they couldn’t get the 218 Republican votes needed to pass it on the floor of the House.

This meant they were just going to send everyone home yesterday, but the few moderate Republicans (read: those in somewhat purple districts where they need a few Democrats to vote for them) screeched and said “We can’t leave town without doing something about these kids crossing the border!”

The retreat sparked panic among GOP moderates, who have felt marginalized and bullied during years of warfare with a small but influential tea party caucus. In a remarkable scene Thursday ­afternoon, angry rank-and-file members rushed to the House floor to surround Boehner and McCarthy, waving their arms and jabbing their fingers as they demanded a vote.

So Boehner and company are trying again today.

How are they doing?

Oh, symbolically, they’ve gotten something they can take to the floor. But will it do a lick of good? Probably not. It would “tweak” the 2008 law requiring children from countries other than Mexico be given individual immigration hearings once they arrive in this country. It would provide $659M in additional funds for the agencies who have to deal with the kids. That sounds like a lot of money, but you’re not going to hire a whole lot of immigration judges with it, particularly since it’s only good till the end of this fiscal year. And it would provide $35 million to border-state governors, who would be given broader legal authority to deploy the National Guard. These supposedly well-informed legislators don’t understand that we’re not being “invaded” by these mothers and children; they’re crossing the border looking for Border Patrol officers to surrender to. It’s only in the fever swamps of Fox News and right-wing talk radio that that constitutes an “invasion.”

Meanwhile, Ted Cruz has further cemented his reputation and credentials with the anti-immigration segment of the Republican party, which he’ll want on his side in the 2016 Presidential primaries.

3 Comments

  1. I wish one reporter had the guts to ask Cruz just once what his connections to the John Birch Society are.

Comments are closed.