Cruz has singled out his party in blunt terms. | M.Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO GOP anger at Cruz hits Senate floor

The GOP’s anger at Sen. Ted Cruz — expressed mostly in private meetings this week — burst onto the usually collegial Senate floor on Thursday, with Sen. Bob Corker excoriating his Texas Republican colleague for blocking a quick vote to avert a government shutdown next week.

In a highly unusual Republican v. Republican exchange, Corker accused Cruz of delaying a Thursday vote simply to create a “show” to cater to his conservative activist supporters at the expense of making good policy.


“You want the American people and the outside groups that you’ve been in contact with to be able to watch us tomorrow,” a perplexed Corker charged on the floor. “The reason we’re waiting is that y’all have sent out releases and emails and you want everybody to be able to watch. And it just doesn’t seem to me that that’s in our nation’s interest.”

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And Corker ridiculed Cruz’s 21-hour floor speech earlier this week, saying never before in the “the history of the country” has a senator delivered such a marathon speech before casting a vote in favor of debating the measure he or she has sought to block.

Cruz shot back.

“Why is Majority Leader Harry Reid going to vote the same way you’re proposing to vote? Why is every Democrat in this chamber going to vote the way you’re proposing to vote,” said Cruz. “When we told our constituents we oppose Obamacare, we meant it. So we are not going to be complicit in giving Harry Reid the ability to fund Obamacare.”

( QUIZ: Do you know Ted Cruz?)

The bitter exchange on the Senate floor between two fellow Republicans is just the latest iteration of the ongoing fight Cruz is waging with his party over whether to use the threat of a government shutdown as leverage to defund Obamacare. While they oppose the president’s health care law, most Senate Republicans refuse to back the Cruz tactic, arguing it would prompt a politically damaging government shutdown and will fail to convince Democrats to gut the president’s signature legislative achievement.

Lacking an agreement from Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Cruz, the Senate will vote Friday to cut off debate on the House-passed continuing resolution, which would include a provision to defund Obamacare. After that point, Reid will offer an amendment to strip the Obamacare defunding provision, something he can do with just 51 Democratic votes. Final passage is expected that day.

After the vote, the two Senate conservative icons will fan out to a pair of high-profile events. Cruz will conduct a one-on-one interview with the Texas Tribune on Friday night just a few hours after the vote, while Lee will speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference in St. Louis on Saturday.

( Also on POLITICO: Ted Cruz: Political anarchist or genius?)

What’s mind boggling to Republicans and Democrats is that Cruz lacks the support to block the continuing resolution — he can only delay it — but time is of the essence for the two parties to reach a deal to avert a government shutdown.

After his marathon floor speech this week, Cruz and Lee voted to bring the measure forward for a debate. Corker, along with Reid, lampooned that vote on Thursday.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had in the Senate where we had a 21-hour filibuster and then the person carrying out the filibuster voted for the issue they were filibustering,” Corker said.

( WATCH: Ted Cruz seizes Senate floor)

Rising up in the Senate, Cruz defended his approach, arguing he’s been trying to make the case that the final procedural vote to end debate is the most critical - not the initial one.

“And I know the senator from Tennessee is learned on Senate procedures, so that I know he must have made a misstatement moments ago when he suggested that those who participated in the filibuster in the other day somehow changed our position in voting for the motion to proceed,” Cruz said.

Indeed, with the Oct. 1 deadline around the corner, the timing of the Senate vote is critical. House Speaker John Boehner has said the House would not likely accept the Senate-passed bill, meaning his chamber plans to amend the proposal and send it back to the upper chamber. But the Senate is a slow-moving body, so any hiccup in the process could imperil the chances of Washington reaching a deal before the new fiscal year begins on Tuesday.

In private, the frustration with Cruz — and his close ally Lee — is just as palpable as it was on the floor. Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) stood up and yelled at Cruz earlier this week for making it sound like Republicans were not willing to kill Obamacare. And at a Thursday lunch, Cruz told Republican senators he wouldn’t allow a prompt vote because he had told his supporters to expect a decisive procedural vote Friday, several sources said. That prompted grumbling among GOP senators.

( Also on POLITICO: Ted Cruz speech reignites John McCain feud)

Conservative groups like FreedomWorks and the Senate Conservatives Fund have sought to draw increasing attention to that vote as a test of whether Republicans truly want to defund Obamacare.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) came to the floor on Thursday afternoon with a request to finish the Senate’s work on the House-passed continuing resolution that defunds Obamacare on Thursday evening. But Lee and the Texas freshman would not acquiesce, arguing the vote should be held on Friday so that the American people could watch.

Reid was furious, arguing that Lee and Cruz were simply delaying the inevitable.

( WATCH: Ted Cruz seizes Senate floor)

“It is as obvious to me as it is to a kindergarten student,” Reid shot back. “This is a big, big charade.”

The delay brought to the floor Tennessee’s Corker, who has repeatedly panned Cruz’s tactics to derail the spending bill and Reid’s ability to strip out the Obamacare language as leading to a “box canyon” for the GOP. Corker charged, the only reason Cruz won’t give consent to an accelerated vote process is because of a promise made to conservative groups.

Corker said several times that Cruz’s logic indicated he was “confused,” because Senate Republicans would effectively be voting against a bill that defunds Obamacare. Cruz’s response: “I don’t think the American people are confused. “

In blunt terms, Cruz has singled out his party and argued most have failed to fight in what could be the last chance to gut a law Republicans collectively hate.

While Reid has argued repeatedly on the floor that every hour until the Oct. 1 shutdown is critical, Lee said votes on Thursday night versus Friday morning — when the next vote will occur with no time agreement — would make little difference.

“I’m not understanding what it is about having a vote tomorrow morning instead of tonight that would make a difference,” said Lee.