Cruz: 'Absence is the equivalent of a no vote' on Lynch

Ted Cruz has an explanation for why he missed Loretta Lynch’s confirmation vote last Thursday: “Absence is the equivalent of a no vote.”

The Texas senator and Republican presidential candidate offered his most comprehensive defense yet for being the lone senator to miss the final vote on Lynch, after Cruz had devoted significant effort to blocking her confirmation for U.S. attorney general. Cruz missed the vote because of a fundraising obligation in Texas, but he maintained that he had attended the only vote that mattered, an earlier vote to break a filibuster on Lynch.


Indeed, Cruz largely blamed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his deputies for Lynch’s confirmation and said that it was a done deal by the time she made it to the floor.

In his mind, his vote against her wouldn’t have mattered.

“Republicans could have defeated cloture had we chosen to do so. Unfortunately, Senate Republican leadership made the decision to allow Loretta Lynch to be confirmed. The cloture vote was the vote that mattered, I voted no,” Cruz said.

Cruz’s aides have also blamed the 20 Republicans who voted to break the filibuster on Lynch, a group that includes McConnell and Cruz’s Texas colleague, Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas). Cornyn has taken exception on Twitter to those who’ve tagged him as a Lynch supporter; he voted to end debate on her nomination but voted against her confirmation.

“The only vote to confirm somebody is actually the vote on the nomination, not cloture,” Cornyn said on Wednesday .“I know everybody wants me and Sen. Cruz in a public fight, and I’m not going to take the bait. But I stand by what I tweeted, it’s true. Sometimes it’s important not to just acquiesce when people say things that are misleading, but to actually correct.”

In explaining why he missed the vote for the fundraiser, Cruz stumbled over the Senate’s confirmation rules. Senate Democrats lowered the filibuster threshold from 60 votes on nearly all nominees to a simple majority in 2013, and they remain there today.

“Cloture was the vote that mattered, it required 60 votes,” Cruz said. Informed by reporters that’s not true, Cruz paused briefly and responded: “Fair point.”

Cruz has come under increased scrutiny for his spotty attendance record in the Senate this year, as he runs for president. He’s also had a number of missed votes on the floor and several spurned committee hearings. But Cruz insisted there was no consequence to rushing back to Texas for a fundraiser one week ago.

“There was no significance to the final vote and I had a scheduling conflict. Under the Senate rules, absence is the equivalent of a no vote. It is identical procedurally,” Cruz said. “I flew back to Washington to speak on the Senate floor, passionately speaking against confirming Loretta Lynch. But unfortunately, leadership chose to do a different direction.”