Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) said Wednesday that it’s time for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to shelve his intransigence and allow a vote on a plan to reopen the government and raise the debt limit.
Ayotte echoed Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in urging Republicans to recognize that the effort to defund or delay the Affordable Care Act was a nonstarter from the beginning.
“I never signed on to this defunding strategy even though I’m an opponent of Obamacare because I didn’t think it was a winning strategy,” Ayotte said during an appearance on CNN’s “New Day.”
With the United States set to reach the debt limit on Thursday, Ayotte said she hopes Cruz won’t make an effort to block the pending compromise in the Senate.
“Senators can cause you to run out the clock, but what’s he trying to gain at this point?” Ayotte said. “I would hope that whatever comes forward, that we would allow a vote on it as soon as possible because we are coming up against this deadline.”
Ayotte was reportedly one of several Senate Republicans who gave Cruz an earful during a closed-door meeting earlier this month.
