After conservative senators asked for a separate vote on President Barack Obama's immigration action, the U.S. Senate failed on Friday to pass the $1.1 trillion federal spending bill that would prevent a government shutdown and fund most government agencies through Sept. 30, 2015.
Instead, lawmakers postponed a vote until Monday.
Two Republican senators who were at the center of the 2013 government shutdown, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, called for a separate vote Friday to defund President Barack Obama's executive immigration action, reported NBC News.
The move stymied Senate leadership's attempts to pass the 1,603-page spending bill and, along with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's refusal to hold a vote, resulted in the Senate holding a rare Saturday session.
The Senate is expected to pass a stopgap measure Saturday to temporarily fund the government through the middle of next week, allowing for a Monday vote, according to Reuters.
A procedural vote on the spending measure will be held around 1 a.m. on Sunday after a lengthy Saturday work session spent voting on presidential nominations.
Reid and Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois began Saturday's session blaming Cruz for delaying the spending bill vote by demanding a separate vote on Obama's immigration action.
"This is the same senator who shut down the government last year in protest over the Affordable Care Act?" Durbin asked Reid, according to NBC News.
Reid responded, "The very same man."
In response, Cruz took to Facebook to explain his actions and inform the public on the Senate's Saturday agenda:
"While the Senate considers the CRomnibus spending bill, all we've done was simply request to hold a vote on a measure to stop President Obama's amnesty. Instead, Majority Leader Harry Reid is holding a series of votes today for the sheer purpose of blocking that vote on Obama's amnesty.
Harry Reid's last act as Majority Leader is to, once again, act as an enabler for President Obama, by blocking this vote on the President's amnesty. He is going to an embarrassing length to tie up the floor to obstruct debate and a vote on this issue because he knows amnesty is unpopular with the American people, and he doesn't want the Democrats on the record as supporting it.
No one wants a government shutdown. We are only seeking a vote. As soon as the Majority Leader allows a vote on a measure to stop President Obama's amnesty, we can and should move forward on this bill to fund the government. If he does not, then we will continue to insist upon regular order and use every tool at our disposal to ensure there is a vote."
