Cruz: Let’s not play Santa to K Street

Sen. Ted Cruz (D-Texas) blasted the $1.1 trillion “cromnibus” spending bill, saying it was full of presents for lobbyists.

“It’s full of Christmas presents for the lobbyists and special interests in Washington,” Cruz said on the Senate floor Friday. “I know it’s Christmas time, but it’s not our job to play Santa to K Street.”

{mosads}The Senate is considering the trillion-dollar package that would fund most of the government through September, avoiding a government shutdown. House Republicans only funded the Department of Homeland Security through February as protest to President Obama’s executive order on immigration.

But Cruz said that wasn’t good enough. He wants an amendment that would prevent the president from issuing nearly 5 million temporary work visas to immigrants already inside the United States.

“The president’s executive amnesty is lawless and unconstitutional,” Cruz said. “We should have an amendment vote on this issue.”

The House passed the bill Thursday night and left town for the year, meaning the Senate has to pass the bill as is to prevent a government shutdown.

“The Senate is going to pass this massive pork-filled mess of a bill,” Cruz said. “And yet leadership in both bodies, Republican leadership in both bodies, have said it is designed to stand up to President Obama and his illegal amnesty. … We will learn soon enough if those statements are genuine and sincere.”

Cruz shutdown the government in 2013 for nearly two weeks over ObamaCare funding — this time he’s it’s about immigration.

There are also objections about the bill from Democrats — particularly Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who opposes a GOP rider that repeals part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

— This article was updated at 11:50 p.m.