Ted Cruz: I Don't Trust Washington Republicans

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said he did not trust House and Senate Republicans in budget negotiations with Democrats. The conservative Senator said he would object to sending the Senate budget to conference unless the conferees promised not to raise the debt ceiling.  

“Let me be clear, I don’t trust the Republicans,” Cruz said. “I don’t trust the Democrats and I think a whole lot of Americans likewise don’t trust the Republicans or the Democrats because it is leadership in both parties that has got us into this mess.”

Cruz was responding to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who urged Senators to trust establishment Republicans to work with Democrats on the budget. The Senate recently passed a budget for the first time in nearly four years, and it is less fiscally conservative than the House budget, which some deficit hawks believe does not cut spending enough. 

“Let’s put some confidence in if not in the conferees appointed here, but in the conferees who will be appointed on the other side of the Capitol, who are of our party, who are fiscal conservatives just like we are,” McCain said, according to Politico. 

Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) supported Cruz.