So, looks like Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) wasn’t too far off last week when he accused Republican and Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) of being the same as Democrat Harry Reid\u00a0(D-Nevada)<\/a>, when he held the position.<\/p>\n On Friday, Cruz accused McConnell of lying about whether he made a deal to have the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank<\/a> attached to a highway legislation that senators must pass.<\/p>\n The Export-Import Bank, which McConnell says in public he opposes, is viewed by many conservatives as corporate welfare and crony capitalism at its worst. While it is supposed to help small businesses compete in global markets, the bank favors large, and even foreign, companies with taxpayer dollars. Authorization for the bank expired in June, and a huge and expansive lobbying effort has been underway to reauthorize it.<\/p>\n This past weekend, during a rare Sunday session that was called to handle the Highway Bill, which had bipartisan support, we got to see just how much McConnell\u00a0really is like Reid.<\/p>\n Sunday’s session opened with one thing \u2013 a warning.<\/p>\n Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) sternly said the following, in a lengthy speech, no doubt aimed\u00a0squarely at Cruz:<\/p>\n The chair reminds all senators of the following paragraph from Rule 19 of the Standing Rules of the Senate \u2026 ‘No senator in debate shall directly or indirectly by any form of words impute to another senator or to other senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a senator.’<\/p>\n We treat each other with honor, even when we feel another has perhaps not accorded us the same esteem. Squabbling and sanctimony may be tolerated on the campaign trail but not (in) here.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Cruz thanked Hatch for his speech, but also said he was merely being honest in his remarks about McConnell and the Ex-Im bank on Friday.<\/p>\n Cruz said on the Senate floor, “I would note that it is entirely consistent with decorum and with the nature of this body traditionally as the world’s greatest deliberative body to speak the truth.”<\/p>\n He said that McConnell, Hatch, and Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), didn\u2019t dispute his claim about the Ex-Im bank in their remarks.<\/p>\n McConnell then used his power<\/a> to block Kate’s Law, the law that would keep illegal alien criminals off the streets, and defunding Planned Parenthood, after their disastrous baby parts selling video debacle over the past few weeks, and prioritized two other bills, one which would revive the Export-Import Bank, and another to repeal Obamacare. Both had a 60 vote threshold.<\/p>\n McConnell used a procedure known as “Filling the Tree<\/a>,” which allows the number of amendments to a bill to be limited by the majority leader, who controls the process, crowding everyone else out. It was used often by Democrat Reid to block Republicans from being able to offer amendments to Democratic bills.<\/p>\n Despite the fact that McConnell ran,\u00a0and was reelected to his seat, based on returning the Senate to regular order, after being tightly controlled by the Democrats for years, now\u00a0he is using the same tactic against his own party. He decided last week that he would only allow two amendments to the bill \u2013 a repeal of Obamacare (which he knew wouldn’t pass) and the Ex-Im Bank reauthorization \u2013 while blocking all others.<\/p>\n On Friday Cruz blasted the leader by saying, “There are hosts of amendments that the American people are focused on, things like defunding Planned Parenthood after the gruesome video. The majority leader doesn’t want to vote on that. That’s actually something the American people are focused on.”<\/p>\n Cruz and other conservatives say the Export-Import Bank amendment, amounts to corporate welfare, however the Senate voted 67-26 to attach a renewal of the bank charter to the Highway Bill, which had to pass. McConnell has been saying he would force a vote on the Export-Import Bank for weeks, both publicly and privately.<\/p>\n Top priority right now of Senate GOP establishment is reauthorizing an obscure corporate welfare program. Can you get any more out of touch?<\/p>\n \u2014 Justin Amash (@justinamash) July 26, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n