Generally, inside the Senate chamber, things stay civil. Nothing like this fight ever happens. Or this one. But things got rather heated Monday evening on Capitol Hill between Nevada's Sen. Harry Reid, a Democrat, and Texas Republican Sen. Rafael "Ted" Cruz.
Over the past couple of weeks, Majority Leader Reid has been attempting to get a conference going between the House and Senate so the two chambers can discuss their differences over the federal budget. Republicans have balked at the notion, unhappy with the idea of any tax increases.
Ted Cruz is the latest Republican to step forward and object to Reid's attempt to take the budget to conference. He expressed "concern" that this could lead to the passage of a bill that would "increase the debt ceiling without sufficient input from the minority party and without addressing the fundamental, structural spending problems" at the federal level. In short, despite being in the minority, Cruz wanted to ensure that no tax increases would occur and the nation's debt ceiling would not be raised.
In his response Reid said, "My friend from Texas is like a schoolyard bully. He pushes everybody around and is losing, and instead of playing the game according to the rules, he not only takes the ball home with him but changes the rules. That way no one wins except the bully who tries who indicate to people he has won.”
This incident can be added to the list of times in Cruz's short Senate career in which he has infuriated his fellow senators.