Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) called for Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) to resign from leadership on Tuesday as Republican backlash to the recently unveiled border deal mounts.
Asked at a press conference whether it’s “time for Leader McConnell to go,” Cruz replied, “I think it is.”
Cruz, a longtime critic of McConnell, was one of ten GOP senators who opposed the Kentucky Republican’s reelection bid for Senate minority leader in November 2022. Cruz criticized McConnell for overstaying his welcome in the Senate and playing a key role in the negotiated terms of the border deal, with Senators Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, J.D. Vance of Ohio, Roger Marshall of Kansas, and Eric Schmitt of Missouri backing Cruz’s position.
“I think a Republican leader should actually lead this conference and should advance the priorities of Republicans,” Cruz said.
McConnell chose Senator James Lankford (R., Okla.) to lead the bipartisan border-deal negotiations, which resulted in the agreement revealed on Sunday. Since then, many Republicans have expressed their dissatisfaction with the proposed bill, which ties various border-security measures to aid to Ukraine and Israel.
McConnell and fellow supporters of the bill in the upper chamber argue that it will end the catch-and-release policy and mandate a shutdown of the border once a certain number of immigrants are apprehended — an average of 5,000 daily apprehensions over the course of a week or 8,500 in a single day. Critics, however, argue that the bill rewards the Biden administration and its Democratic allies for their refusal to use existing executive authorities to secure the border.
At the Tuesday press conference, Cruz said the Senate border deal was “designed to lose” and that “this is a plan Chuck Schumer is thrilled with.” The Texas Republican added Congress does not need to pass legislation to secure the border, considering President Joe Biden is well equipped with his executive authority to address the border crisis himself.
House GOP leaders also rejected the deal on Monday, with a statement that declared the bill “DEAD on arrival in the House.”
Biden, on the other hand, laid the blame on former president Donald Trump for Republicans’ fierce opposition to the bill.
“Now, all indications are this bill won’t even move forward to the Senate floor,” Biden said Tuesday. “Why? A simple reason: Donald Trump.”
“Because Donald Trump thinks it’s bad for him politically, even though it helps the country. He’d rather weaponize the issue than actually solve it,” he continued, claiming Trump threatened Republican lawmakers to vote against the measure.
“And looks like they’re caving,” Biden said. “Frankly, they owe it to the American people to show some spine and do what they know to be right.”
After the 2022 election, Cruz urged Senate Republicans to vote against McConnell and instead for a new leader after their party lost the Senate race in Pennsylvania, but ultimately failed in the effort.
“We lost a seat in the Senate and we barely got a majority in the House,” Cruz said Tuesday. “And I stood up and said in any ordinary organization when you’re faced with failure — if you’re running a business and you lose $50 million – you don’t just say, ‘Everything’s great, let’s keep doing it.’ No, you sit down and say, ‘What are we doing wrong?’”
McConnell, who was first elected to the Senate in 1984, has been serving as the Senate minority leader since 2021. He is Kentucky’s longest serving U.S. senator.
In response to Cruz’s statements, McConnell said, “We can all agree, Senator Cruz is not a fan.”
National Review requested comment from Cruz’s office, which confirmed the senator’s position that McConnell should retire.