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Ted Cruz was back on cable news battling the White House over the debt ceiling issue Sunday as Republicans grew increasingly frustrated with the president’s steely determination to prevent his party from winning a political victory. .
The US Senator from Texas spoke to Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business Network when he became furious that Republicans were unable to make any progress on their offer of concessions from Democrats on spending cuts as part of negotiations to raise the US debt ceiling. States and avoid a default on US loans
“The contrast couldn’t be starker. The Republicans in the House are accountable and Joe Biden, what is he saying? He’s saying ‘I won’t talk, I won’t negotiate, I won’t compromise on anything, anyway, no way,'” complained the Texas Republican.
He would go on to accuse the mainstream media of siding with the president on the issue, echoing common Republican complaints about journalists.
Yet for all their complaints, the GOP’s reputation on basic governance issues remains deeply damaged thanks to the actions of Congress and former President Donald Trump in recent years. In the most famous case of political games that play out when Republicans make demands in exchange for their votes on the debt ceiling, federal government funding, and more, the federal government shut down for nearly three weeks between 2018 and 2019, with the exception of essential services, after Trump refused to sign an appropriations bill that did not include funding for border fencing along the US-Mexico divide.
That government shutdown cost the US economy more than $10 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The last major fight over the debt ceiling was in 2011 and led to a downgrade of the US credit rating. During that debate, the stock market plunged and the overall approval rating of the Republican Party also fell nearly ten points.
The increasingly risky tactics of the far-right GOP even jeopardized his own party’s choice of a House speaker last January when a handful of reluctant Republicans in the House forced the chamber to vote more. than a dozen times before President Kevin McCarthy. was confirmed, and his path seemed far from safe throughout the entire process.
Cruz likely won’t have much say on the matter overall, given the GOP’s minority status in the Senate, where the party has been relatively quiet compared to its House counterparts in terms of White House demands. .
