Senate

Cruz: Boehner would have lost his job over spending fight

by Jordain Carney - 09/28/15 7:36 PM ET

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) slammed outgoing House Speaker John Boehner on Monday, suggesting the Ohio Republican would have lost his job over a short-term spending bill.

“Speaker Boehner faced a conundrum. If he does what he and Leader [Mitch] McConnell promised, which is fund all of Barack Obama’s priorities, he would have lost his job,” he said. “So what did he do? He announced he’s resigning as Speaker and as a member of Congress.”

{mosads}He added that “I believe if Speaker Boehner had done that, had passed a dirty [continuing resolution] funding Planned Parenthood, funding this Iranian nuclear deal, that he would have lost his job.”

Cruz’s remarks come after Boehner announced during a closed-door meeting with House Republicans on Friday that he would step down at the end of October.

The Ohio Republican’s decision came among increased chatter that conservative House Republicans would try to oust Boehner if he allowed a short-term spending bill that funded Planned Parenthood to come up for a vote.

But Boehner told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that he would have been able to overcome a potential challenge, saying that “I was going to get the overwhelming number of — I would have gotten 400 votes, probably.”

But Cruz said Boehner’s decision to resign was a “direct manifestation of this disconnect between the voters back home and the Republican leadership.”

Cruz’s remarks came during an hour-long speech on the Senate floor, after a short-term spending bill that funds Planned Parenthood overcame a key procedural hurdle and his colleagues blocked him from offering an amendment on Planned Parenthood and the Iran nuclear deal.

Cruz was limited to only speaking for one hour on the Senate floor. When he asked to get additional time he was blocked by Democrats.

Tags Barack Obama Boehner John Boehner Ted Cruz