Well this is something I didn’t think I would wake up and read today:
POLITICO – Two months after Ted Cruz arrived in the Senate in 2013, he tried to quiz veteran Dianne Feinstein about her understanding of constitutional law during a tense Judiciary Committee hearing on an assault weapons ban she had authored.
Pressed by the freshman whippersnapper about whether Congress could regulate books in the same way Feinstein wanted to regulate guns, the Stanford-educated California Democrat delivered a memorable zinger in response: “I am not a sixth-grader.”
Five years later, the once-antagonistic Texan and his California colleague are talking daily. The topic now isn’t guns but how to solve the crisis of migrant families separated on the border. And according to people who’ve witnessed their interactions, the two are getting along quite well.
“I think he’s very constructive,” Feinstein beamed in an interview. “And I’m delighted.”
“She certainly has expressed a strong and, I hope, sincere interest,” Cruz replied. “So we’re working together on legislation that both conferences can support.”
The two senators both represent border states but couldn’t be further apart on immigration. Feinstein wants to pass a “clean” bill to enshrine protections for young immigrants threatened by deportation; Cruz warned that Republicans would lose Congress if they provided “amnesty” to those same people.
But that might be the point: Cruz and Feinstein are trying to hash out a compromise that shields families from being separated and can win a strong majority in the Senate. If these two, of all people, can come to terms on a deal, there’s no reason for anyone in the chamber to vote against it, their colleagues reason.
“This is a problem that everyone, no matter what end of the political spectrum you are on, believes needs to be fixed. Ultimately, it makes strange bedfellows,” said Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), who attended a bipartisan meeting on Wednesday that included Cruz and Feinstein. “Dianne’s a longtime legislator. I think that Sen. Cruz is interested in getting this issue solved.”
I have no idea how they can come together on this issue. Remember, Feinstein and her Democrat colleagues just recommended that no illegal be arrested within 100 miles of the border, in order to keep families together.
But I do remember Ted Cruz saying often during the campaign that he has no issues with compromise, as long as it doesn’t violate his core principles. So maybe they can work something out?
I have my doubts but I guess we’ll see…