Senate

Cruz foiled in bid for Planned Parenthood, Iran amendments

by Jordain Carney - 09/28/15 7:04 PM ET

Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday was blocked from trying to link the Iran nuclear deal and a one-year ban on federal funding for Planned Parenthood to a government funding bill.

The Texas Republican, who is running for president, was blocked from offering his amendment during a voice vote. He tried to get a roll call vote but couldn’t get the necessary support from his colleagues.

{mosads}Cruz’s amendment would place a one-year ban on federal funding for Planned Parenthood. It would also ban the Obama administration from using funds from the short-term bill to implement the Iran nuclear deal or any “assessed contributions” to the United Nations until lawmakers receive the side deals between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The side deals have been a key point of contention among opponents of the deal. Cruz and House Republicans have suggested that the 60-day congressional review period for the Iran nuclear deal hasn’t started because the administration hasn’t given lawmakers the agreements.

The administration, for its part, says it doesn’t have the IAEA documents but has sent top officials to the Capitol to speak with lawmakers about the deals.

After the procedural back-and-forth, Cruz slammed Republican leadership, suggesting they repeatedly “surrender” to President Obama.

“You know, President Obama has negotiated a catastrophic nuclear deal with Iran. Republican leadership goes on television all the time and rightly says this is a catastrophic deal,” he said. “I would suggest that if we actually believed the words that are coming out of their mouths, then we should be willing to use any and all constitutional authorities.”

In a bid to offer his amendment, Cruz tried to set aside the Senate’s “tree,” the colloquial term for a diagram laying out proposed amendments to a bill.

After senators blocked his effort, the Texas Republican added that “what’s happened here is Majority Leader [Mitch] McConnell has taken a page out of Leader Reid’s playbook.”

Republicans repeatedly criticized Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) when Democrats controlled the Senate for “filling the tree,” thereby blocking senators from offering amendments to a piece of legislation.

Cruz warned that he will try to offer his amendment again on Tuesday, suggesting that constituents should watch to see which senators block his effort.

He added that on Monday only Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) joined him in trying to get a voice vote on offering his amendment while “the remaining senators on the Republican side — you had Leader McConnell, you had Whip [John] Cornyn, you had Senator [Lamar] Alexander, you had Senator [Thad] Cochran — those four senators voted no.”

Monday is by no means the first time Cruz has scuffled with Republican leadership. He’s been vocally critical of McConnell’s decision to back a short-term spending bill that also funds Planned Parenthood instead of potentially shutting down the government.

Separately, in July, the Senate’s presiding officer ruled a push by Cruz to offer an amendment on the Iran nuclear deal to a long-term highway bill out of order because McConnell had filled the tree, blocking further amendments.

Cruz then tried to get a roll call vote on overruling the decision but couldn’t get a “sufficient second” from his Republican colleagues.

Tags Harry Reid Mike Lee Ted Cruz