A Ted Cruz Tantrum Could Spoil GOP Plans To Prevent A Shutdown

BySAHIL KAPUR

The House of Representatives is expected to wrap up legislation on Wednesday to fund the federal government and allow President Barack Obama to implement his sweeping executive actions on immigration.

That leaves just one day in the Senate to pass the bill in order to avoid a government shutdown on Thursday at midnight.

That's a problem, because in the Senate, nothing happens smoothly. Under Rule 22, even one senator can force two "cloture" votes and up to 30 hours of debate on any bill simply by objecting to a quick up-or-down vote.

There are two candidates for a potential filibuster that could force this scenario: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL). Both have been screaming bloody murder over the fact that the House GOP bill fails to block Obama's executive actions which would allow more than 4 million undocumented immigrants to gain three-year work permits. Both have rejected the House bill as weak and portrayed it as a tacit surrender, calling on their party to be willing to risk a government shutdown fight to block Obama's moves.

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