Ted Cruz Claims: ‘I Have Consistently Opposed Shutdowns’

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Monday claimed that he has “consistently opposed shutdowns” despite him shutting down the governmen in 2013 over Obamacare funding. “Senate Democrats oppose everything, resist everything, shut everything down,” the conservative senator lamented during a brief press availability. “This sounds pretty familiar,” MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt shot back, referring to Cruz’s demands in the 2013 ordeal. “In 2013, I voted repeatedly to fund the government and, in 2013, it was Harry Reid and the Democrats who voted no, who voted to shut the government down.” Asked whether shutdowns should be used as political leverage, Cruz bafflingly replied, “We should not be shutting the government down. I have consistently opposed shutdowns. In 2013, I said we shouldn’t shut the government down; I went to the floor asking unanimous consent to reopen the government.” When Hunt noted that he actually “stood in the way of that,” Cruz snapped back that his role in the 2013 shutdown is just “a wonderful media narrative.”