For once, maybe Republican Senator Ted Cruz is right.
In a surprise announcement on Fox’s Hannity show, Cruz suggested that his colleagues in the Senate should not go on summer vacation without passing a new health care bill that replaces Obamacare, which everyone (even Democrats) acknowledges is a total failure. Despite this, getting all legislators to agree on a replacement has been a tough nut to crack so far.
For a Senator such as Cruz to take a stand and tell his fellow Senators when they should and should not take a break is admirable; clearly, Cruz has the interests of voters at least somewhat in mind (although there may be less selfless reasons for his point-of-view — namely that he already had a vacation in early July).
Cruz has a point, however. Although it may be hard for voters to believe, after accounting for vacations, recesses and times when Congress isn’t working, lawmakers have scarcely 30 days left in the legislative session for fiscal 2017. That’s not much time left for health care reform to be enacted this year, and it’s badly needed. Cruz isn’t the first lawmaker to suggest skipping its traditional summer recess this year until health care gets done, but his voice is a prominent one, and he joins President Trump in expressing this opinion. Watch as Ted Cruz lays out what he thinks Congress should do in the clip below.