Cruz: Senate Republicans are 'single-most damaging thing' for the GOP in 2014
(CNN) - If Republicans suffer losses in next year's mid-term elections because of the recent partial government shutdown, Sen. Ted Cruz said Senate Republicans–not Democrats–will be responsible.
"The single-most damaging thing that has happened to Republicans for 2014 is all of the Senate Republicans coming out, attacking the House Republicans, attacking those pushing the effort to defund Obamacare and lining themselves up opposite of the American people," Cruz told CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash in an interview in San Antonio.
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His comments, which aired Monday on "New Day," come as a new CNN/ORC International survey indicates that more than half of the country is displeased with Republicans holding majority power in the House.
According to the poll, 54% say it's a bad thing that the GOP controls the House, up 11 points from last December, soon after the 2012 elections when the Republicans kept control of the chamber. Only 38% say it's a good thing the GOP controls the House, a 13-point dive from the end of last year.
Cruz to CNN: ‘I don’t work for the party bosses in Washington’
This is the first time since Republicans won back the House in the 2010 elections that a majority of people say GOP control of the chamber is bad for the country.
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Cruz helped lead the conservative Republican strategy to attach anti-Obamacare provisions to must-pass spending legislation this fall. With the support of the White House, the Democratic-controlled Senate refused to take up anything that tried to dismantle the president's signature health care law.
Ultimately the disagreement led to the 16-day partial government shutdown, which removed $24 billion from the economy, according to an initial analysis from Standard & Poor's.
Republican shutdown pain may boost Dems in 2014
Many Senate Republicans rebuked the effort led by Cruz, a first-year senator who was elected in 2012, and they privately and publicly discouraged the senator from pursuing the tactic.
"It was a fool's errand to start with. It was never going to succeed," Sen. John McCain said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."
McCain didn't single out Cruz but blamed "the whole effort" instead.
"Keep up the fight against Obamacare. But don't shut down the government and have so much collateral damage," the Arizona Republican added.
Some argue Cruz's strategy was taken in part to raise money for conservative groups that back primary challengers. One group, the Senate Conservatives Fund, which supported Cruz last year, raised $2.1 million in September–a large amount for a nonelection year.
McCain: Obamacare website rollout a 'fiasco'
Asked if his effort was a money-making enterprise, Cruz said: "Not remotely."
The Texas Republican said he's "hopeful" Senate Republicans will change.
"I am hopeful there will be some time, some reflection, and that Senate Republicans will come back. Come back to the principles they believe and they campaigned on. I'm hopeful we'll actually put action behind the campaign promises," he said.
In the Senate, Democrats hold 55 seats, including two independents who caucus with the Democrats, while Republicans hold 45. Democrats are defending 21 of the 35 seats up for grabs next year, with Republican defending 14.
- CNN Political Editor Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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He is not the only bone head in Texas politics, that is out to GET someone. Just 500,000 votes could get Texas at least to a swing state – Working hard on getting people to the polls – it starts at home -VOTE!!!
what a clown. redrawing congressional districts each census should be done some other way. Nut jobs like this will destroy the US.
Democrats have to defend more Senate seats than Republicans in 2014, but in 2016, 24 Republicans are up for re-election but only 10 Democrats. Even if Republicans somehow re-take the Senate next year, they're going to be squashed in 2016.
Shouldn't mr. Cruz and the people who are responsible for government shutdown pay for this 24 billion dallor loss ?
"Was Rafael Cruz's father a Cuban citizen when he was born? If so, would that make Rafael a Cuban, Canadian, and by-the-way US citizen?"
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His father was legally a Cuban. His mother was legally an American. Cruz was born in a Canadian hospital on Canadian soil. Because there are no records of his birth in the United States, that makes him a Canadian. But since his mother was an American, he was born with the right to appy for U.S. citizenship, which would be routinely granted.
By his own admission, Cruz has admitted to having never filed the necessary paperwork at a US embassy to apply for his brithright citizenshop. His claim has been that he was "automatically a U.S. citizen" when he was born. No, he was born as a Canadian with the right to apply for U.S. citizenship. This loophole allows for a pregnant woman traveling abroad, and delivers her child abroad prematurely can still obtain U.S. citizenship for her child.
Cruz' problem is that since he has never officially applied for citizenship, he may run into an issue with the constitutional requirement that a person must be a U.S. citizen for 14 years prior to becoming POTUS. I think he fails that requirement.
i don't know why cruz insisted on attaching obamacare to the debt ceiling negotiations..... obamacare is going to fail on its own.
sadly, it's going to be a very costly and protracted failure. the penalties are simply not high enough for the young and healthy to sign up (unless they drink the koolaid). the preexisting conditions clause will draw in the old and sick immediately... and, ironically, keep the young and healthy away... becuase they know they can sign on in the future if they too get sick.
wow-talk about delusional
Ever wonder why the Nazis fought until the bitter end when it was perfectly obvious to all for months that they would lose? It's because they had a Cruz mentality which regards any concession to reality as a "Stab in the Back".
The Tea Party Is The Problem.
Cruz represents "Texas" NOT the rest of the United states.
This guys ego is so big, he is tripping over it.
Texas will go blue soon.
Even they have had enough.
I'm looking forward to the next election. The GOP will be singin' the Cruz Blues when they discoverer too late that they were following the wrong guy.
Is this guy joking? If the GOP publically supports Cruz in anyway after these remarks and the government shutdown then the GOP leadership outside the whitehouse has truely lost all integrity.
Excise the filth that is the Teaparty and finally do something to save yourselves and America ... Republicans!
Cruz and all the Tea Party extremists who know nothing about governing or leadership are the most destructive element in our government. They are not there to serve the People or to find solutions. They are there to bring down the government and infuse ignorance, hate, fear, and totally false made-up data back into their base. Cruz and his ilk have destroyed the Republican Party and any sanity of the two Parties working together for the common good of the People they swore an oath to serve.
2014 is the year ALL of us need to get to the precincts to VOTE and remove these Republicans from any seats of power. All we have seen is obstruction, hate speech, no work, no offered solutions, no leadership and a total disregard for We the People.
I am sick of Tea Party rhetoric and intentional actions of destruction, shutting down our government, putting the U.S. on the verge of another economic collapse as a means of extortion to get a non-legislative, unconstitutional list of insane demands met. President Obama was not going to let these traitors of our government process take control and he rightfully rejected their insurrection.
Cruz and his Tea Party were going to send our economy and our pristine global credit rating over a cliff for reasons none could articulate. Their traitorous games cost our economy $26 B and threw millions out of work and hurt small businesses greatly.
Since the Republican Party will not stand up to these extremists, We the People must and come out in a combined force to vote all of them out of office in 2014. This 2014 election could mean the life of death of our nation as we knew it. We have the sole power to end this nightmare with our VOTE.
Yes, when a tiny minority holds the entire country's economy hostage, the real problem is the guys saying "Hey, maybe taking the entire country's economy hostage is a bad idea."
He doesn't know how to make friends very well.
Mr. Cruz the single most damaging thing that has happened to Republicans is YOU and the Tea Party. NB the 2014 mid-term elections will send a clear message.
Sorry Senator Cruz, the American people don't dance to your toon. The problem is the Tea Party in Congress. The republican party has done nothing to put a national healthcare program in place for the poor and low middle income families to fix it. At least the democrats put the affordable care act in place and now your party wants to appeal it in its entirety instead of working with the democrats to work out the kinks and bad parts of the program. You all said the same about social security instead of putting back the money stolen form social security and government pensions to pay for the wars and other programs that ad nothing to do with pension programs. If private sector CEOs did this they would be in Jail and their property confiscated by the government. The congress did nothing to help the Government Workers until private sector jobs from companies like Lockheed started laying off their workers. We all have your number and its only a matter of time before the likes of you are either on the street or in jail.
Any supporters of CRUZ out there? Sarah, where are you? Looking out for USofA front your back porch checking to see that there aren't any Russian's sailing across the strait, or sitting in Miami looking across the Florida strait looking for Cruz's supporters?
It seems Ted Cruz may be the single most damaging thing for the GOP
So Cruz is blaming the Senate Republicans on the day that a poll was released saying how Americans think that the Republicans shouldn't be controlling the House? At this rate, the Dems will control the presidency, the senate, and soon the house for the next 10 years. Keep it coming Cruz!!!
In a lunatic's eyes, the whole world is crazy.
deport this racists back to canada
This is the government that Americans wanted – radicals at both ends of the political spectrum who are unwilling to compromise in pursuit of their extremist agendas. The place self and party before country, to all our detriment. You asked for it, America. You got it.
"Cruz: Senate Republicans are 'single-most damaging thing' for the GOP in 2014"
He's not totally wrong as he is the single-most damaging Senate Republican. Actually, this is as close as he's come to being correct since he arrived in DC.
Nice job, Ted. Don't stop. Ignore the critics.
MR. AMERICA....OU/R COUNTRY IS BANKRUPT....CUT THE SPENDING.....: The amount you stated is what's part of a budget projected from the years Bush was in office, which with the additions of budgetting by the Obama administration skyrocketed the budget. The two wars started by the Bushes are the main expenditures in the budgets; had it not been for the two wars our country wouldn't be going in debt this fast; and then there's the recession which also has to taken into an account.