Sen. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzMurkowski: Supreme Court nominee should not be taken up before election Battle lines drawn on precedent in Supreme Court fight Sunday shows - Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death dominates MORE (R-Texas), the architect of the 2013 government shutdown, stood outside the Capitol with House conservatives on Wednesday and urged the GOP to not provide funding for President Obama's executive orders on immigration.

Cruz told reporters at a press conference that he would support a short-term spending bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), that includes a rider that defunds Obama's immigration action.

While the House Appropriations Committee contends that would be impossible, Cruz says riders have been attached to funding bills "hundreds," even "thousands of times."

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Congress should "stand up" and say "we will not allocate taxpayer dollars to lawless and illegal amnesty," Cruz said at the press conference.

Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Steve King (R-Iowa) and Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) were among the House conservatives who attended the event, which began with an opening prayer by a pastor and transformed into something resembling a rally.

A number of outside spectators attended the event and yelled "Obama's a traitor," "King Obama," and "Ted Cruz 2016."

Conservatives have been pushing House GOP leaders to defund the executive orders for weeks.

King said funding the immigration action "crosses a line" and "can't be tolerated."

Cruz said incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) should announce that the GOP will not confirm any presidential nominees — executive or judicial — if the immigration orders take effect.

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Only nominees responsible for national security matters should be considered, he added.

The event was reminiscent of the lead-up to the October 2013, government shutdown, which lasted 16 days.

Cruz led the charge to defund ObamaCare, which House GOP leaders chose to go along with. Cruz pushed House conservatives to join his campaign then, as he did Wednesday.

This group could be a problem for House GOP leadership whose members pushed a plan to their conference Tuesday that would involve a long-term spending bill that would fund most of the government through next September and a short-term spending bill that would only fund the Department of Homeland Security through March.

Republicans said many of their colleagues were open to the proposal, but they might need Democratic votes if there's too much opposition from House conservatives.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) signaled Tuesday he could support such a plan if the House passes it.

Congress must pass a new spending bill by Dec. 11 or the government could shut down.