Cruz: Dems want a government shutdown

Cruz said that while he “very much” hoped lawmakers could clench a deal, Democrats are under pressure to oppose any agreement. 

 

“I will say I’m concerned. I think [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the Democrats want a shutdown,” he said, according to the Texas Tribune. 

 

{mosads}He added that the party’s base is currently demanding that Senate Democrats “engage in across-the-board obstruction” to anything proposed by Republicans or President Trump.

“And so I do have some concern that to appease the radical left, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats may do everything they can to try to provoke a shutdown,” Cruz told Texas reporters. 

Lawmakers are in the middle of a two-week recess. They will have only days to pass a government funding bill, the deadline for which is April 28, when they return to Washington. 

Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, has warned lawmakers that some of the president’s priorities — including more defense and border security funding — need to be included if they expect the president to sign the bill. 

Democrats, meanwhile, are demanding that key ObamaCare payments be included in the spending bill after Trump floated canceling insurer reimbursements to try to get Democrats to negotiate on healthcare reform. 

Cruz, who was at the center of a 2013 government shutdown, said he was reserving his judgement on the government funding bill until he saw the text. 

Asked if he thought controversial issues like funding for Trump’s proposed southern border wall should be included, he told reporters that Congress “should use the power of the purse, use appropriation, to implement good policy.”