Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz was left dumbfounded after his fellow GOP senators denied him a "sufficient second" to allow a roll call vote on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's efforts to fund the federal government without defunding Planned Parenthood.
Cruz called the move "an unprecedented procedural trick,"
Politico reports.
"What does denying a second mean? Denying a recorded vote. Why is that important?"Cruz said, Politico reports. "When you are breaking the commitment you’ve made to the men and women who elected you, the most painful thing in the world is accountability."
Cruz vowed to again try to force a vote on Tuesday when the Senate votes to pass a spending bill without dealing with Planned Parenthood.
"One of the ways you avoid accountability is you somehow are somewhere else doing something really, really important instead of actually showing up to the battle,"Cruz said. He accused Republicans of working with Democrats to "roll over any parliamentary trick you might use," Politico reports.
McConnell is the next obvious target of conservative Republicans upset with party leadership on Capitol Hill following House Speaker John Boehner's surprising retirement announcement Friday.
Louisiana GOP Chairman Roger Villere
posted a straight-to-the-point message on his Facebook account Saturday, writing, "McConnell needs to resign."
The Washington Times reports Villere is "the longest-serving state GOP chairman in the nation, with 12 years on the job, and is the vice chairman of the Republican National Committee, the GOP's national governing body. He also serves on the RNC’s executive committee that makes decisions alongside Chairman Reince Priebus."
"Mitch is a good and honorable guy, but the base is leaving our party," Villere told The Times. "I’m out in the field all the time and we have all our elections this year for state offices, and it’s hurting us tremendously with our elections.”
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