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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Senate passes spending bill in extra session

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, talks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington on Friday as the Senate considers a spending bill. (Associated Press)
Lisa Mascaro And Michael A. Memoli Tribune News Service

WASHINGTON – Congress gave final approval to a $1.1-trillion spending bill to keep the government from shutting down, but not without a last-minute hitch when Republican Sen. Ted Cruz forced a rare Saturday session, defying party leaders’ efforts for smooth passage.

The political gamesmanship not only put senators in a foul mood as they canceled weekend plans and braced for a round-the-clock session, but also shifted attention back onto Republican Party divisions that leaders have tried to temper as the GOP prepares to take full control of Congress in the new year.

Few expected the sudden turn of events, even though the Texas Republican had vowed to use the spending bill as leverage to stop President Barack Obama’s immigration plan.

Almost as surprising was the resolution to the standoff late Saturday evening. The vote was 56 to 40, clearing the legislation for the president’s signature.

Throughout the day Saturday, anger and frustration among fellow Republicans spilled into the open over a strategy that many viewed as uncomfortably similar to the one that led to the 2013 government shutdown, which left the party badly bruised after conservatives followed Cruz’s lead.

In fact, just days earlier it was liberal Democrats who had taken the spotlight as threatening to derail the government funding package in the House, before Obama formed an unusual alliance with Speaker John Boehner to salvage the vote.

But among Cruz’s colleagues, much of the damage was done.

“This reminds me very much of the shutdown last year where the strategy made absolutely no sense and was counterproductive,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. “Ironically, the obstruction to getting the funding bill done had been coming from the other side of the aisle. But now I guess the blame will be shared.”

As an unintended consequence of the Saturday session, Democrats used the extra time to begin the process of confirming a slew of Obama’s nominees next week – including his controversial choice for surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, who has drawn deep opposition from the National Rifle Association because of his advocacy of stricter gun laws.

The 20 nominees, who also included the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and many district court judges, would not likely have otherwise been approved this year, with just days remaining in the lame-duck Congress.

“The end result of all of this throughout the weekend is the White House is going to end up with far more nominations confirmed than they ever would have,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. “And actually, as I talk to Democrats on the floor, even though this is an unusual process, most of them are pretty happy about the outcome.”

But among party conservatives, Cruz was cheered as a hero who was standing up to Obama’s plan to defer deportations for up to 5 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

“Thank you,” tweeted Erick Erickson, the conservative editor at Redstate.com, who suggested the hardball tactics not only helped the party win the Senate majority in the 2014 midterm elections, but would boost the party’s political currency heading into 2016.

Cruz raised a point-of-order objection to allowing money to be spent on what he called Obama’s unconstitutional immigration action, but it was rejected 74 to 22.

The Senate was launched into turmoil late Friday, after the Republican leadership had left the Capitol for the night, calling into question whether Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the incoming majority leader, will be able to control his most conservative members as Republicans prepare to run the Senate in the new year.

Just before 9 p.m. Eastern time, Cruz strode onto the floor and took aim at the 1,603-page “mess of a bill” as the kind of backroom politics Americans abhor.

“Before the United States Senate is a bill that does nothing, absolutely nothing, to stop President Obama’s illegal and unconstitutional amnesty,” Cruz said. “That’s why I rise here to speak.”

In many ways, the ability of the renegade senators, Cruz and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to wrest control of the chamber over leadership’s objections resembled the struggle Boehner has faced corralling his Republican majority in the House.