CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: ACA and Government Shutdown

Interview

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Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, is joining us.

Senator, thanks very much for coming in.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: Well, thank you, Wolf. It's good to join you.

BLITZER: The president paints a dire picture of what is about to happen after midnight tonight. Almost 800,000 federal workers, they're going to lose their jobs, they're not going to get paid, there's going to be all sorts of disastrous consequences.

Why not give at least a week or two weeks, an opportunity to let the government continue, and then you can continue these negotiations with the White House?

CRUZ: Well, look, Wolf, I don't want a government shutdown.

I don't think we should have a government shutdown. And the only reason we might is if Harry Reid and President Obama force one. You know, if you look at this process over the last several weeks, the House has been working trying to negotiate a compromise. And the problem has been Harry Reid and the president have refused to compromise.

They have refused even to talk. A lot of people have been commenting on the fact that President Obama is willing to negotiate with the Iranians, but he's not willing to negotiate with Congress.

BLITZER: All right, he says negotiating on Obamacare, he's not negotiating with a gun pointed at his head, he's saying.

CRUZ: Well, but let's be very clear how this has played out.

My view, as you know, is that I think Obamacare should be repealed in its entirety.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But you don't have the votes. But you don't have the votes for that.

CRUZ: And so, in the spirit of compromise, when this thing started, we started with a compromise position, where is where the House of Representatives was, that it should be defunded. Now, that went over. That passed the House. They funded the federal government.

BLITZER: It failed in the Senate.

CRUZ: It went to the Senate, and Majority Leader Harry Reid said, no, absolutely not, no discussion, we vote it down.

It then went back to the House. And the House compromised again. They then came back with a one-year delay. Now, that was a compromise from defunding. And they funded the federal government again in its entirety.

BLITZER: But it failed again in the Senate.

CRUZ: But let's be clear. It didn't fail. Harry Reid killed it.

BLITZER: You didn't have the votes. But you didn't have the votes.

CRUZ: But it didn't fail spontaneously.

BLITZER: The Democrats all lined but. The Republicans were against.

CRUZ: Wolf, my point is the Democrats are not negotiating. They're not compromising on everything.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: So what do we do at this late moment with only a few hours left? And a lot of people out there are going to suffer if the government shuts down.

CRUZ: Look, I will tell you, I think Harry Reid wants to force a government shutdown.

The House acted at 12:30 in the morning on Sunday. I think the Senate should have been called back in session on Sunday. Harry Reid decided to leave everyone home on their vacation on Sunday instead of calling us in to work.

I think Harry Reid affirmatively wants a government shutdown. I think that's unfortunate. We're seeing right now the House is compromising a third time right now. And Harry Reid has said, whatever you do, I won't talk to you, I won't compromise, my absolutist position is if every bit of Obamacare isn't funded, I'm shutting the federal government down. That's a mistake.

BLITZER: We have heard from our Dana Bash, our chief congressional correspondent, there's a little revolt brewing right now among more moderate House members, saying, you know what? This is too serious. We will have to fight Obamacare another day. We got to keep the government running.

I want to play some sound for you a few Republican -- Republican House members saying just go ahead and fund it for now. We will leave Obamacare for another day. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SEAN DUFFY (R), WISCONSIN: But there's also an opportunity. Maybe we will have a week extension of funding, so we have more time to have this conversation. There are a number of different opportunities that we have.

REP. CHARLES DENT (R), PENNSYLVANIA: There are over 180, probably 190 members of the House Republican Conference who has a very serious sense of governance and who are the governing wing of the party. We have a few dozen who don't have that same sense of governance. We're just going to have get on with the business, pass a bipartisan bill, and keep the government running.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: These are Republicans, House members who disagree with you.

You say, under no circumstances pass this legislation which doesn't have anything to do with Obamacare.

CRUZ: Well, look, I don't know those particular individuals.

What I can tell you is there are millions of Americans right now who are hurting under Obamacare, who are losing their jobs, who can't find a job, who are being forcibly put into 29 hours a week.

BLITZER: But why not fight that fight later and in the meantime not make these other Americans suffer?

CRUZ: Because this thing isn't working.

Wolf, why is it that the unions are asking to be let out? Why is it that millions of Americans are losing or at risk of losing their health care? I think the problem is Washington is not listening to the American people. But let me be clear.

I want to commend the House, because the House of Representatives is listening to the American people. And Harry Reid and President Obama's position is, we won't even talk. Now, let me point to something though that's a good sign. And this may have been missed in the coverage, but it's a good sign of Washington working the way it should.

Today, a piece of legislation was passed. The House of Representatives passed a bill Sunday morning that says, regardless of what happens, if there's a shutdown or not, we're going to fund the men and women of our military. Now, for weeks, President Obama and Harry Reid had been threatening the men and women of the military that their paychecks were going to be lost. And today Harry Reid did something good, something I praised him on the Senate floor for, which is he agreed not to block that bill. And so the Senate unanimously passed that. That will go to the president's desk for signature today.

That's a step in the right direction. That is ensuring that our soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines are not held hostage.

BLITZER: So at least there's a little bipartisanship.

I'm going to ask you, Senator, stay with us. I want to take a quick break, continue this conversation. There's a lot at stake, as you well know, right now.

Much more of our conversation with Senator Ted Cruz.

You have some questions for him, still not too late. Tweet us, using the hashtag SITROOM.

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BLITZER: We're back with Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

All right. We're only hours away from a government shutdown that will be very painful. What would you do? You have got to do something. You're a smart guy. You know the math in the Senate. You know the math in the House. Give me an idea of how to avoid the pain of a government shutdown.

CRUZ: Well, look, I don't think we should have a shutdown. I think Harry Reid should stop refusing to negotiate.

BLITZER: But what do you want? Give us a realistic proposal that could have a chance of success.

CRUZ: Look, what I want is to keep the government running and at the same time to deal with the harms, the millions of Americans who are losing their health care, at risk of losing their health care, who are facing skyrocketing insurance premiums.

I want the American people to be treated the same as President Obama is treating big corporations and members of Congress. He's exempted them.

BLITZER: But, between now and midnight, they're not going to -- you're not going to resolve this.

CRUZ: Let me give you another strategy that ought to happen at the same time.

BLITZER: All right.

CRUZ: We saw today that a continuing resolution funding the military passed both houses unanimously. Now, the president listed all of these terrible things that will happen if Harry Reid forces a shutdown. I think we all to start passing continuing resolutions narrowly focused on each of the things the president listed. So, he said Border Patrol agents won't be paid. Fine. Let's pass a continuing resolution that funds Border Patrol agents.

He says that he plans to close every national park. Fine. Let's fund a continuing resolution funding the interior, keeping the parks open. Let's one at a time demonstrate the same bipartisan cooperation we saw today with the military and address all of these people that he's holding out as are going to suffer.

And if the president is willing to actually roll up his sleeves and work, we can deal with much of the downside consequences.

BLITZER: But, basically, you want to -- how many of those resolutions do you think you can pass between now and midnight?

CRUZ: Well, look, there's no rule that a continuing resolution has to fund every bit of the federal government all at the same time.

We should pick the top, the critical priorities, the areas where, if the Democrats force a shutdown, the areas where there will be the most pain and let's address that. Let's take them off the table. And I think the House tonight ought to pass several continuing resolutions.

I was glad the president made clear that, even if they force a shutdown, Social Security will continue, the military will continue, Medicare will continue, but we ought to address the other areas, the VA, a perfect example. The House should pass a continuing resolution funding the VA in its entirety, send it to the Senate. And I hope Harry Reid would show the same willingness to work that he did this afternoon.

BLITZER: All right, a specific proposal coming from Senator Cruz.

Thanks very much for coming in. We will see what happens. We will touch base with you again in the course of this evening.

CRUZ: Very good. Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you, Senator Cruz for joining us.

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