On Wednesday, The Hill reported that House Republicans were “following [Sen. Ted] Cruz’s playbook” as the shutdown continued. “GOP leaders on Tuesday introduced a series of bills to fund specific parts of the government in lieu of one sweeping package — a strategy Cruz had floated a week ago and promoted again Monday night as the government was closing its doors,” The Hill reported.
Rep. Pat Meehan (R-PA) told The Hill, “This whole Congress has been on ‘Cruz control’ for the last few weeks…. He has a tremendous capacity to step in front of the parade and act as if he’s leading it.”
Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R-OH), among other House Republicans, attempted to distance himself from Cruz: “It’s about expectations of what can be done and what can’t be done. And I thought the defund strategy and the expectation that some members gave the American people that we could accomplish this raised the level of expectations to an unhealthy level. They don’t trust us, as it is. And I think that did us disservice.”
Nonetheless, it is now obvious that the Cruz strategy has indeed become the strategy of the House – and it appears to be working, with President Obama caving on funding national defense piecemeal and reaching out to Congressional Republicans in an attempt to appear conciliatory.
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).
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