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Cornyn formally elected Senate GOP whip; Cruz enthusiastic …about GOP majority

From left, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn of Texas., and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., leave a closed-door meeting of Senate Republicans at the Capitol on Thursday. (AP/Susan Walsh)

updated 12:20 with comments from Sens. Cruz and Thune.

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans formally reelected Texas Sen. John Cornyn as GOP whip. In the new Senate that makes him deputy majority leader.

The vote was by acclamation. Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania,  a conservative, nominated Cornyn. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a moderate, seconded the nomination, and both delivered speeches for him in the closed door meeting of Senate Republicans.

“I’m humbled to have been chosen by my colleagues to help lead the new majority in the U.S. Senate, and I pledge that those fundamental Texas values of personal liberty and limited government will continue to be my guide,” Cornyn said in a statement.

“After years of gridlock and dysfunction in the Senate the work before us is considerable, but Republicans approach this opportunity with determination, with humility, and above all with a firm commitment to address the top priorities of the American people.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell was elected unanimously,  as well. He will serve as majority leader in the new Senate.

Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas tea partier who has tangled with GOP leaders, went with the flow at Thursday’s meeting, which lasted nearly three hours.

“The new leadership team is essentially the same as the old leadership team. The results were unsurprising. The top leadership positions were all uncontested and elected by acclamation,” Cruz said as he left the meeting.

Asked if he’s enthusiastic to see McConnell and Cornyn continue leading the Senate GOP, Cruz responded: “I am enthusiastic about Republicans being in the majority and now having the opportunity to lead.

“And if we simply do what we said we would do and lead with a bold positive agenda – pro-jobs, pro-growth, defending the constitutional rights of the citizenry – it will make a serious and a real difference for the country. And I am optimistic and hopeful that Republicans will do just that,” he said.

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota– reelected to his post as GOP conference chairman – said all the elections went “fairly smoothly.” Downplaying the idea that Cruz or others might continue to give headaches to leadership, he said he doesn’t sense much tension among Senate Republicans.

“We’re still new to this. We’re going to be a majority. We know that in order for us to succeed we’re going to have to function as a team and I think that gives you a renewed sense of purpose. Those things tend to be more evident in the minority, but in the majority – for sure we’re going to have disagreements. We have different folks who come from different places and have different views on issues,” he told reporters. “But when it comes to being successful in terms of trying to move an agenda I think we all recognize we have to work together as a team.”

Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire nominated McConnell. Sen.-elect Tom Cotton of Arkansas gave a seconding speech. Thune was nominated by Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia and seconded by Sen.-elect Cory Gardner of Colorado.

In the only contested GOP race, Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker beat Nevada Sen. Dean Heller to become the new chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Cornyn held that job for four years. Wicker’s challenge will be to defend the new 54-seat majority, in a year in which far more GOP-held seats are on the line.

3 Texas judicial nominees likely won’t get committee vote Thursday

Robert L. Pitman, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, speaks during a news conference June 4 in Midland. (AP Photo/Odessa American, Courtney Sacco)

WASHINGTON — Three candidates for federal judgeships in Texas aren’t likely to get a committee vote Thursday, giving the Senate less time to approve the nominations by the end of the year.

Under Senate rules, any Judiciary Committee member can postpone the vote by one week, a move Republicans have traditionally used for judicial nominees. Once a nominee clears that hurdle, the full Senate would vote on confirmation for U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman of San Antonio, Texarkana lawyer Robert Schroeder III, and Sherman Magistrate Judge Amos Mazzant III.

“Standard protocol would be for them to be held over to the next business meeting,” said Beth Levine, a spokeswoman for Republicans on the committee. Democrats control the committee and Senate only until early January, when the new Congress is sworn in.

Confirmation requires a majority of votes in the Senate. At a committee hearing in September, Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz publicly backed the trio of Texas nominees, whom they had jointly recommended to the White House.

On Tuesday, a Cornyn aide reiterated the senator’s support. Both Texas senators sit on the Judiciary Committee. President Barack Obama announced the nominations in June.

It’s unclear whether the full Senate will vote to confirm the nominees by the end of the year, Levine said.

Democrats will likely try to move as many nominees as they can before Republicans take over, said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond who tracks judicial nominations.

The handover in power means Republicans have less incentive to act quickly.

“They’re not in a hurry because they’re going to take over,” he said, “and then they can run the whole show.”

The seat Pitman is up for has been vacant since the end of 2008. Pitman would become Texas’ first openly gay federal judge.

Mazzant, a federal magistrate judge in Sherman, would fill a post in Marshall. Schroeder, a partner at the law firm Patton, Tidwell, Schroeder & Culbertson, is up for a position in Texarkana.

Texas will stay Republican, says RNC chairman Priebus, shrugging off Cruz friction talk

Reince Priebus, Republican National Committee chairman, speaks with reporters over breakfast on Friday. (Michael Bonfigli/The Christian Science Monitor)

WASHINGTON – Republican national chairman Reince Preibus gloated Friday morning about the victories in Texas and shrugged off the idea that Sen. Ted Cruz’s outspokenness poses any sort of problems in the Senate.

Texas Republicans ran the table Tuesday night, winning every statewide office by wide margins. Battleground Texas – the Democrats’ much ballyhooed push this year, led by veteran Obama operatives – couldn’t stop the juggernaut and if anything, Priebus said, it prodded his own side to work harder.

Priebus and reporters on Friday. (Michael Bonfigli/The Christian Science Monitor)

“The Texas GOP and the Republican National Committee took the threat of Battleground Texas pretty seriously,” he said over breakfast with reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. “I do believe that Battleground Texas did a lot of work down there in registering Hispanic voters. I just think they woke up the [Republican] party.”
Priebus credited serious efforts by the Texas GOP, and said the national party “has been investing in Texas for about a year and a half.”

Democrats have eyed Texas as a sort of trump card in presidential contests. With California and New York safely in their column, those extra electoral votes would provide a Democratic nominee a nearly insurmountable lead. They’ve been counting on demographic shifts to deliver the state, eventually.

But, said Priebus, “We don’t plan on slowing down on our engagement in Texas…. We know that we have to hold and get better in Texas.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be a problem in 2016,” he added, but without ongoing efforts the state could slip away in 2020 or 2024. “I don’t want to see [Texas] becoming a close state or becoming purple.”

Three hours before congressional leaders arrive at the White House for a reset lunch with Obama, Priebus was deeply critical of the president’s post-election stance – the lack of contrition or acknowledgement that voters rejected his views and embraced those of Republicans.

“I’m not sure the president got the message. He was dismissive. He was flip. And this isn’t the first time the president has said he would be bipartisan,” he said. “He needs to listen to the American people more…. We won in red states, we won in blue states and we won in purple states.”

Asked about Sen. Ted Cruz’s comments last weekend denouncing the president for “lawlessness” and calling for a flood of investigations by a GOP-run Senate, Priebus basically agreed.

With the size of the GOP majorities – in the House, the biggest in decades – the Cruz faction won’t stir division. “Unity is pretty achievable with those kinds of numbers,” he said. “…What Ted Cruz said I think is appropriate. The American people in part – in part, it wasn’t the whole campaign — are sick and tired of the abuse, as well. They want answers on the IRS. They want answers on Benghazi.”

He’s pleased that the RNC has curtailed the presidential primary process “from a 6-month slice and dice festival” to a compressed 60-day process. The party also plans to hold only about seven primary debates, enforced with “pretty debilitating” penalties; a candidate would forfeit a big chunk of delegates by participating in non-sanctioned “rogue debates.”

“We’re not going to have a 23 debate circus,” Priebus said.

The next presidential race is imminent. Priebus plans to have a “full blown field operation” by March in Florida, Ohio and Virginia – key battlegrounds the GOP will need to win the White House in 2016.

“I sure as heck hope we’re running against Hillary Clinton,” he said, noting that candidates she and Bill Clinton tried to rescue this election didn’t do well. Even in their home state of Arkansas, Rep. Tom Cotton ousted Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor.

“What you saw on Tuesday night is about as flat a performance as we could have seen from the Democratic Party’s brightest star,” Priebus said, adding that she would unify Republicans and help fill the party’s coffers like no other Democratic nominee.

update: GOP wins Senate as Sen. John Cornyn cruises to 3d term

Sen. John Cornyn speaks with Steve Munisteri, Texas GOP chairman, during an Election Day visit to party headquarters in Austin. (AP/Tamir Kalifa)

update 10:30

North Carolina has put Republicans over the top. They will control the Senate, thanks to victory by state House Speaker Thom Tillis. He has ousted Sen. Kay Hagan in the costliest Senate race of the year.

Moments later, AP has called Iowa for tea partier Joni Ernst. The GOP majority stands at 52 and potentially climbing.

update 10:08pm

Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, a Republican, has survived. With that, Republicans now stand at 50 seats. They need one more to claim the majority in the 114th Congress.

update 9:40pm

Republican David Perdue has won the open Senate seat in Georgia — one of the few potential bright spots and firewalls tonight for Democrats. He beat Michelle Nunn, daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn. That keeps the Georgia seat in GOP hands after the retirement of Sen. Saxby Chambliss, quashing Democrats’ best hope of flipping a seat.

“We couldn’t be happier with what’s been happening around the country,” RNC chairman Reince Priebus told reporters moments ago.

 

update 8:55pm

Louisiana’s Senate race is headed to a Dec. 6 runoff between three-term Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu and GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy. Neither topped the 50 percent needed to win.

In Colorado, GOP Rep. Cory Gardner is leading Sen. Mark Udall by a wide margin and Fox News has already called him the winner.

That puts Republicans two seats away from a majority.

update 8pm

Just in from the White House: the president has invited the House and Senate leaders from both parties to the White House for a meeting on Friday. Presumably that would be to clear the air and try to set a tone going forward.

Also, no surprise, Cornyn has been declared the winner in Texas.

And in New Hampshire, Democrats have claimed victory for Sen. Jeanne Shaheen over Scott Brown, a former senator from Massachusetts. That won’t be enough, by itself, to stave off a Republican takeover. But GOP victory there would have signaled near-certainty of that.

update 7:40pm

Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas is the first night’s first Democratic casualty. Rep. Tom Cotton has defeated him. No surprises so far as Republicans close in on their magic 51. McConnell’s victory in Kentucky looked iffy a few months ago but he’d been pulling ahead.

original post

WASHINGTON — Sen. John Cornyn is heavily favored to win a third term tonight. The suspense for him is whether he’ll remain deputy leader of the Senate minority — or whether he’ll get a promotion to deputy leader of the majority.

That depends on whether Republicans can pick up enough seats around the country to tip control of the Senate. Control hinges on the 10 tightest contests, in North Carolina, Iowa, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Colorado, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Alaska and Arkansas.

Kentucky is especially relevant to Cornyn. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. — projected to win his race the moment polls closed — would replace Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., as majority leader if Republicans wrest control of the Senate.

Control of the Senate has far-reaching implications — for Cornyn, his fellow Republicans, and for President Obama and his agenda.

Democratic challenger David Alameel on Oct. 21. (LM Otero/AP)

In his own race in Texas, Cornyn never broke a sweat this fall. That left him plenty of time and money to help with the Texas Republicans’ voter targeting efforts, and trying to elect more Senate Republicans around the country.

His own challenger David Alameel, a Dallas investor, had never run statewide before. He collected hardly any donations for the effort to topple Cornyn, and didn’t spend nearly as lavishly as some Democrats had hoped, from a personal fortune estimated at $50 million. At last count Alameel pumped about $5.5 million into the campaign — only $1 million more than he spent on a failed congressional primary bid two years ago, his only previous bid for office.

Cornyn, eager for change in the new Senate, raised more than $14 million — a bargain compared to more hard-fought races elsewhere.

Spending this fall has hit staggering levels, commensurate with the high stakes.

The five most contested Senate races – North Carolina, Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky and Georgia — each commanded upwards of $65 million in totally outlays by candidates, parties and outside groups.

In North Carolina, where Republican Thom Tillis was trying to oust Sen. Kay Hagan, spending hit $108 million.

Nationwide, outside groups have poured more than $771 million into Senate races, according to the Sunlight Foundation, a watchdog group. Nearly half of that has come in the last three weeks, fueling a deluge of attack ads from Alaska to Georgia.

The spigots may stay open in Louisiana and Georgia, where the winner needs to top 50 percent and runoffs were viewed as likely. Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Democrat, would face a runoff Dec. 6. In Georgia, Republican businessman David Perdue would face Democrat Michelle Nunn in a runoff Jan. 6 – three days after the new Congress is sworn in.

Texas Republicans raise concerns about federal Ebola response

Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, center, and GOP lawmakers speak to reporters after a Republican caucus meeting, at the Capitol in Washington on May 6, 2014. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

updated at 3:51 p.m. with comment from HHS.

WASHINGTON — Texas Republicans are demanding answers from the Health and Human Services Administration about how existing public resources were used to combat the Ebola outbreak.

In a letter sent Friday, Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz — joined by all 24 Texas Republicans in the U.S. House — raise concerns that new Ebola cases emerged on U.S. soil despite the department’s funding for public health crises.

According to the letter, a 2013 law gave nearly $1.4 billion to “public health preparedness and response activities,” part of it to support efforts in Dallas and other metropolitan cities.

“[I]t is especially troubling to witness the federal government’s communications missteps and confusion about protocols knowing that a wide range of federal resources have already been in place for years,” the lawmakers write.

In a statement Friday afternoon, HHS said it looks forward to responding to the letter.

“HHS values working with members of Congress on this important public health matter,” spokesman Bill Hall said.

National Ebola protocols came under scrutiny after two Dallas health care workers contracted the disease while treating an Ebola patient. The patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, died but the two nurses, Nina Pham and Amber Vinson, have been declared Ebola-free.

Labeling Dallas “ground zero” for the first Ebola case, the Texas lawmakers say it’s necessary to understand how the U.S. government has applied its resources before charting a path forward.

In their letter, they tick through a number of requests to HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell, including an explanation of how policies under a 2006 law are helping to contain and treat the disease.

That law created the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, a position whose responsibilities Texas lawmakers also want detailed.

Ted Cruz on Apple’s Tim Cook coming out: “I love my iPhone”; gay rights groups unamused

Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at a news conference on immigration at the US Capitol on Sept. 9, 2014. (AFP photo/Mandel Ngan )

WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz on Thursday called Apple CEO Tim Cook’s coming out as gay a “personal decision.”

“Those are his personal choices,” Cruz said on CNBC. “I’ll tell you, I love my iPhone.”

The Texas Republican, a vocal opponent of gay marriage, then pivoted to his stance on the broader issue. Cruz said marriage is a question best left to the states because of the country’s federalist system.

“My focus is on the constitutional question of who has the authority to make decisions,” Cruz said.

Last month, Cruz vowed to introduce a constitutional amendment that would ensure states can ban gay marriage. His announcement came after the Supreme Court let stand a series of lower court rulings that legalized the practice, a move Cruz called “tragic and indefensible.”

Cook came out in a Bloomberg Businessweek opinion piece on Thursday, revealing publicly for the first time that he is gay.

“Let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me,” Cook wrote.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay-rights organization, had harsh words for Cruz’s remarks.

“Coming out is the most courageous and important thing that an LGBT person will do in their lifetime,” spokesman Fred Sainz said. “Tim Cook showed great courage and leadership in doing so. He no doubt will save lives by inspiring those struggling with their sexual orientation or gender identity. All we get from Senator Cruz is either backhanded compliments or his backhand.”

Texas judicial nominees could get Senate committee vote in November

Robert L. Pitman, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, speaks at a news conference June 4 in Midland. (AP Photo/Odessa American, Courtney Sacco)

WASHINGTON — A Senate committee could vote as early as Nov. 13 on three nominees for lifetime appointments as federal judges in Texas.

That’s the final step before the full Senate decides whether to confirm U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman of San Antonio, Texarkana lawyer Robert Schroeder III, and Sherman Magistrate Judge Amos Mazzant III.

Unless Republicans object, the Judiciary Committee plans to hold the vote when it meets for the first time after the November elections. Under Senate rules, any committee member can postpone the vote by one week.

The Senate vote could come by the end of the year, depending on the timing of committee action.

To be confirmed, a majority of senators must approve of the picks.

At a Judiciary Committee hearing last month, Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz praised the nominees and their qualifications. Both Texas Republicans sit on the committee.

“Each of these three nominees are lawyers of the highest caliber and the kinds of individuals who should serve on the federal bench,” Cornyn said.

President Barack Obama announced the nominations in June, after Cornyn and Cruz recommended them to the White House.

The seat Pitman would hold in San Antonio has been vacant the longest, since the end of 2008. He Pitman would become the state’s first openly gay judge in Texas.

Mazzant would fill a seat in Marshall. Schroeder, a partner at the law firm Patton, Tidwell, Schroeder & Culbertson, is up for a post in Texarkana.

Dim views from Texas on Obama’s Ebola czar

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s decision today to name a so-called “Ebola czar” to oversee the federal response is drawing scathing reviews from many Texas Republicans — and some praise.

House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Austin, called it “an important and necessary step to name an Ebola coordinator.” But he said, Ron Klain — a former chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, a job he also held under Vice President Al Gore — isn’t the right person.

McCaul noted that previous administrations had special advisers on biodefense policy with solid scientific and medical backgrounds. “While the president’s pick may have the ear of the White House and experience from the campaign trail, I am concerned he doesn’t have significant relationships in the medical community that are imperative during this current biological emergency,” McCaul said.

Sen. Ted Cruz blasted the choice entirely.

“We don’t need another so-called ‘czar,’ ” he said in statement. “We need presidential leadership. This is a public health crisis, and the answer isn’t another White House political operative. The answer is a commander in chief who stands up and leads, banning flights from Ebola-afflicted nations and acting decisively to secure our southern border.”

There is no evidence that Ebola has entered the United States through Mexico.

Cruz called for an emergency session of Congress to enact a flight ban.

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., echoed McCaul’s view. He wasn’t impressed by a czar without a medical background.

“What has been missing from this administration’s response to Ebola is not a new figurehead; what we need is a strategy to get ahead of this, and restore the public’s faith that they are safe,” he said.

 

 

Ebola: calls for travel ban rejected, debated

WASHINGTON – As more politicians clamored for a travel ban they hope will halt the spread of Ebola, public health experts and the administration remained adamant Wednesday that it’s a bad idea.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said a ban is still “not on the table at this point.”

On Tuesday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz demanded that travelers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea – the countries grappling with Ebola outbreaks — be denied entry into the United States. The Liberian man who died a week ago in Dallas spread the virus to two nurses.

He flew from the capital, Monrovia, without a fever or any symptom that would have let screeners flag him as a potential carrier.

Cruz called the outbreak in West Africa a “public health and national security threat.” And, in an interview conducted before the third case was confirmed early this morning, he noted the disruption and worry caused by just two cases in Dallas.

“Our capacity to handle a widespread Ebola outbreak is limited,” Cruz said. “The best approach is to prevent an outbreak, because if we were to see anything, God forbid, like the numbers that are being seen in West Africa, that has the potential to overwhelm the capability of our system.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with the World Health Organization, argue that a travel ban would isolate poor countries badly in need of outside help and economic activity. In their judgment, a ban would let Ebola fester and explode in a pandemic far worse than it otherwise might.

Few federal lawmakers have defended that viewpoint. This afternoon, Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., chimed in.

She painted demands for a travel ban as alarmist.

“Many of my congressional colleagues have let their anxiety about this crisis dictate a panicked and perilous tone during a time when we need a cautious yet vigilant discussion,” she said. “This idea may seem like a quick fix but in reality, isolating West Africa will only exacerbate the epidemic in the region.”

Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Lewisville, a physician, was on CNN for a second day in a row arguing for a “pause” in travel from the afflicted countries.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., a member of the GOP leadership and the senior Republican on the Senate committee overseeing transportation, joined with House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., also called for a travel ban today.

“We believe a temporary travel ban for such individuals who live in or have traveled from certain Western African countries is reasonable and timely,” they said in a joint statement.

Alameel eyeing Cruz in 2018 as he fights to unseat Cornyn

David Alameel hasn't given up in his Senate campaign.

David Alameel (Michael Ainsworth/Staff)

WASHINGTON – Even against long odds, David Alameel hasn’t thrown in the towel in his bid to unseat Sen. John Cornyn.

“I’m in it for the long run,” the Dallas investor and dentist told The Dallas Morning News editorial board on Monday.

Cornyn leads by about 20 percentage points in most polls. Alameel says it hasn’t dampened his optimism.

“My aim is not just to win. I want to change the way people think,” he said.

He also sees this year’s effort as a way to position himself to try again in 2018, when freshman Sen. Ted Cruz’s term expires.

“The next one is in four years, and you have to build a base. I’m building a base right now,” Alameel said.

To do that, Alameel has dug deep into his own pocket.

Through the end of June, he’d poured more than $5 million in personal funds into the campaign, accounting for over 99 percent of his expenditures. He’s spent another $2 million in the last three months, he said, but isn’t “keeping up exactly on how much.”

The next batch of campaign finance reports are due Wednesday.

Alameel said he sees the spending, and his campaign, as a form of public service.

“Different people have different values. My value is about doing something that makes a difference to my country, to my community,” he said. “Life’s too short, what are you going to do with your money?”