Heller says Ted Cruz shows ‘disrespect’ for Senate colleagues

By Amber Phillips

Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014 | 1:55 p.m.

Count Nevada Sen. Dean Heller among Senate Republicans frustrated at the antics of colleague Ted Cruz, who kept the Senate open Saturday and allowed Sen. Harry Reid to more easily power through the president’s nominations.

The surprise move “shows a level of disrespect for your colleagues,” Heller said Tuesday.

A clearly frustrated Heller said that while he hosted a Thursday policy luncheon for Republican senators, he asked Cruz “to give us any comments, any comments he wanted to make.”

“And he didn’t make it,” Heller said.

Cruz, a 43-year-old Texan considering a 2016 presidential run, surprised nearly every U.S. senator by making an 11th-hour grandstand Friday night to force a vote on President Barack Obama’s immigration action.

Sen. Mike Lee of Utah joined Cruz, effectively halting a deal on a $1 trillion federal spending plan lawmakers planned to approve Monday.

Many senators, including future majority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had already gone home for the night. Some were on their way to airports or train stations.

Nevada’s Reid, the majority leader for another week, exploited the opportunity to more quickly push through two dozen of Obama’s nominees.

Heller said he doesn’t have a problem with Cruz asking for an up-or-down vote on Obama’s immigration action, or even holding the Senate in for the weekend. He just didn’t appreciate being caught off guard by it all.

“They could have stood up any time during the last week and said, ‘This is what we want,’” Heller said. “Don’t wait until we all go home.”

Cruz has since apologized to his Republican colleagues for upending their weekend, according to Politico.

More debate ahead

Heller is also warily watching for a deal on terrorism risk insurance, a priority for Las Vegas casinos.

The bill, which overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives earlier this month, provides federal assurance for certain terrorist attacks in the hopes of encouraging insurance companies to offer terrorism insurance for major projects.

But several senators on the far right and far left have issues with provisions tucked into the bill and are demanding Reid offer them amendments. The holdup means “I’m not 100 percent convinced today” that it will pass, Heller said.

Heller said a failure to get terrorism risk insurance on the books could mean a detrimental spike in premiums for big businesses.

No on Yucca

One thing Heller said won’t change with the incoming Republican Congress is his and Reid’s staunch opposition to making Yucca Mountain, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, the nation’s nuclear waste repository.

Heller announced Monday he’ll have a seat on the powerful Senate Finance Committee, which deals with taxes. But he had to give up a seat on the Energy and Natural Resources panel, which has jurisdiction over Yucca Mountain and other Nevada lands issues.

When Congress reconvenes in January, the only Nevadan lawmaker who will sit on a natural resources committee will be Rep.-elect Cresent Hardy, a central Nevadan Republican who has expressed interest in moving forward with the Yucca Mountain project.

Heller said none of that will change Yucca’s current stalled position in Congress. Reid, after all, will still have significant leverage as Democrats’ leader to stop the project.

“I’m certainly sure it doesn’t change the dynamics as far as Harry Reid is concerned,” Heller said. “We’re still going to fight this thing tooth and nail, and Cresent just comes in with a different view of the world on this particular issue.”