Not again.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz could stage another filibuster — this time in an attempt to raise the debt limit.
House Republicans passed a clean debt-limit bill on Tuesday night, which suspended the country’s borrowing limit until next year on March 15. Republican House Speaker John Boehner blamed Democrats for pushing the vote, which 28 GOP members favored.
The bill on Wednesday moves to the Senate, where lawmakers are expected to pass the legislation later this week.
Cruz plans to object to hold a simple majority vote, thus seeking a 60-vote threshold in the Senate.
The Texas Republican faux filibustered Obamacare last September for more than 21 hours in an attempt to defund the Affordable Health Care Act. He also pushed House Republicans to oppose any compromise that would have kept government services functioning, and became the ire of his party for the government shutdown last October. But he ended 2013 blaming Democrats for the 16-day closure. He accused President Obama earlier this month of defying and disregarding federal law throughout his administration. Cruz, who might be in pursuit of a 2016 presidential campaign, ranked fourth among possible GOP candidates in a recent poll that indicated no strong front-runner for the party. Other notable filibusters include Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky speaking for 13 hours last March about U.S. drone strikes, and Democratic State Sen. Wendy Davis of Texas staging a 12-hour filibuster last June to protest restrictive abortion legislation.
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