A procedural vote Sunday to repeal Obamacare couldn’t win over a majority of the GOP-led Senate, while a bid to revive an obscure exports agency succeeded, delivering twin blows to conservatives as they navigated a thorny path toward a highway bill that’s raised questions about civility and Republican discord in the august chamber.
Allies of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell kicked off a kooky weekend session by scolding Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, for flouting the Senate’s rules of comity. The 2016 presidential candidate accused Mr. McConnell on Friday of lying about whether he’d struck a deal to revive the federal Export-Import Bank, which faces a slow death after its charter expired June 30.
“We’re not here on some frolic or to pursue personal ambitions,” Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican, said, adding he worries about the future of the institution.
Mr. Cruz swiftly defended himself, saying he agreed with rules on courtesy, but that “speaking the truth about actions is entirely consistent with civility.”
The remarkable saga began when Mr. McConnell, the Kentucky Republican who voted against the Export-Import Bank on Sunday, said he was forced to offer a compromise between conservatives who want to see the bank die off and those who say it bolsters jobs by financing the sale of U.S. goods overseas.
As a compromise, he set up a long-sought vote to repeal Obamacare alongside a similar vote to limit debate on the bank, known in Washington-speak as “Ex-Im.”
“The vote we’ll take this afternoon represents a stark choice for every senator,” Mr. McConnell said. “Protect a president who likes a law with his name on it or stand with the middle class by finally opening the way to truly affordable care.”
“Another proposal relates to the Export-Import Bank,” he continued. “I’ll be voting against it. The Export-Import Bank is a New Deal relic that has outlived any usefulness it might have had.”
Mr. Cruz said the vote on Obamacare amounted to showmanship, and that Mr. McConnell wasn’t truthful when he said there was no deal to revive Ex-Im.
As many predicted, the procedural vote to repeal Obamacare received only a 49-43 plurality, well short of the 60-vote supermajority needed to limit debate and advance to an up-down vote. The Ex-Im vote easily surmounted that hurdle, 67 votes to 26, clearing the way for it to be added to the bill later on.
Twenty-four Republicans and every Democrat who cast a vote Sunday backed the Export-Import Bank measure, while the Obamacare measure fell short on a party-line vote.
It was the first time the Senate voted on Obamacare repeal in this Congress, although its budget assumed the law’s repeal. While the GOP holds the majority, eight lawmakers — five of them Republicans — missed the weekend vote.
The votes were overshadowed to a large degree by speeches that Mr. Hatch and Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, delivered in response to Mr. Cruz’s broadsides against leadership, although they did not invoke the senator’s actual name.
Mr. Hatch said bonds of trust are essential when lawmakers of differing parties and backgrounds come together to debate the hot topics of the day.
“But we do not become enemies. We remain colleagues, and colleagues treat each other with respect,” he said.
Mr. Cornyn, meanwhile, said it was telling that no senators came to the floor to back Mr. Cruz’s claim that Mr. McConnell struck an underhanded deal with Ex-Im’s supporters during debate on President Obama’s trade agenda.
The body as a whole implicitly rebuked Mr. Cruz after their votes when he couldn’t get at least 10 senators to back his request to appeal a ruling that had blocked his amendment on the Iran nuclear deal. His plea for a “sufficient second” fell with a thud in the quiet chamber, and lawmakers moved on.
Similarly, Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican, was turned away when he pushed a measure to defund Planned Parenthood.
Senior Republicans said the maneuvers they sought would erase precedent and open the door to virtually endless amendments in the chamber.
Undeterred, Mr. Cruz said the GOP’s sweep into control of the Senate this year has yielded little fruit.
“The American people elected a Republican majority believing it would somehow be different from a Democratic majority,” he said on Twitter.
Sen. Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, said discord within the GOP is the main similarity between now and his years in control.
“It has become increasingly clear that what’s wrong with the Senate today is the same thing that’s troubled the Senate before Republicans took control,” he said, “dysfunction in the Republican caucus.”
Facing a July 31 deadline to keep road projects moving, Mr. McConnell is hoping to move quickly on the underlying highway package and send a product over to the House.
The House already passed a short-term extension of the highway trust fund through mid-December, saying it buys enough time to negotiate the six-year deal that lawmakers actually want.
They’re working on a different long-term deal that would rely on a one-time tax on business income brought back to the U.S. from overseas.
Mr. McConnell wanted a long-term deal now, as Congress’ reliance on short-term patches has cast uncertainty over state and local projects. He brokered a six-year bill with Sen. Barbara Boxer, California Democrat, that authorized the road projects for six years.
Mr. McConnell was able to find about half of that money, which is why his bill only pays for the first three years’ worth of projects.
He is hopeful the House will warm to the Senate version before it departs for an August recess, although he’s got to wrangle a fractured upper chamber first.
“We’ve got to get this done,” Mr. McConnell said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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