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Rubio, Lee, Cruz struggled to get time on the floor to discuss Obamacare defunding

by Alexis Levinson

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WASHINGTON — Sen. Marco Rubio complained Tuesday that his attempts to get time on the floor to discuss defunding the Affordable Care Act with Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee were repeatedly denied.

The three Senators are spearheading the push to use the continuing resolution to defund the healthcare law, and are hoping to get more Republican Senators on board. The three have circulated a letter to that effect. Some Republican colleagues have signed on, but others, such as Sen. Richard Burr, criticized it as the "dumbest idea" he had ever heard.

On Tuesday afternoon, Rubio tweeted a complaint that they were unable to schedule a time for the three of them to discuss the effort on the Senate floor.

@SenMikeLee,@SenTedCruz & I have been trying to get time on Senate floor 2 speak together about #obamacare.Keep being told no time available

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 30, 2013

Republican staffers in the Senate Cloak Room are responsible for scheduling time for Republican Senators to speak on the floor.

The Senators, said a Republican aide familiar with the request, "had floor time scheduled for Thursday" until a vote was "magically" scheduled. They were then told on Monday that they could bring the issue up Tuesday morning, but that opportunity was also cancelled, and efforts to reschedule were "slow [walked]."

"Guess Rubio was fed up," the aide added.

Sen. Rubio's communications director declined to comment on the tweets.

According to one Republican aide familiar with the scheduling process, the hold up was simply a matter of "finding the amount of time they wanted in a day when things were changing quickly." For instance, the Senate held a vote Tuesday morning, a time when the chamber would normally be in morning business. Shortly after Rubio's initial tweet, a time was scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. colloquy. Rubio credited the success to his tweet.

Twitter magic! @SenMikeLee,@SenTedCruz & I finally given time 2 speak together about #ObamaCare at 3:30pm 2day.Watch: http://t.co/ynTPRqApVL

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 30, 2013

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Rubio, Lee, Cruz struggled to get time on the floor to discuss Obamacare defunding
http://dailycaller.com/2013/07/30/rubio-lee-cruz-struggled-to-get-time-on-the-floor-to-discuss-obamacare-defunding/

John Hames