Sens. Cruz, Lee pledge to block lame-duck bills

Two GOP senators have vowed to stall any nonemergency legislation taken up in the lame-duck session later this year. 

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) warned Democrats that trying to muscle through any substantial legislation after the midterm elections would do lasting harm to the chamber. They said they would vote against any unanimous consent agreements on nonemergency legislation after Election Day.

{mosads}Cruz is also publically pushing his House colleagues to oppose a continuing resolution to fund the government until mid-December, which would require lawmakers to reconvene after the election. 

“Americans cannot trust politicians they can no longer hold accountable at the ballot box,” Cruz said in a statement Wednesday night. “The Continuing Resolution should, at a minimum, fund government operations until after the new Congress is sworn in next year.”

Republicans are poised to pick up seats in the Senate in November and possibly flip control of the chamber. Similar warnings to thwart a lame-duck session were taken up by Republicans in 2010, ahead of the GOP wave election. 

Cruz and Lee argue a number of lawmakers will have no accountability during the lame-duck session, after some inevitably lose reelection. 

“One way to live up to these expectations is to ensure that the American people, when they go to the ballot box this November 4th, can make their electoral choices based on a full knowledge of how their current senators have voted on key legislation,” they wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). 

The House GOP postponed consideration of the funding bill on Wednesday in order to consider including broader authority for the administration to train vetted Syrian rebel groups.