Ted Cruz and conservatives huddle, question leadership strategy

When the most conservative House Republicans grumble about their leadership, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is never too far from the action.

That was the case yet again Tuesday night when Cruz headed across the Capitol to eat pizza and chat with House conservatives about the upcoming short-term spending bill Congress must pass by the end of September to keep the government running. But unlike previous Cruz-led meetings as funding deadlines approached, talk of a government shutdown was not at the forefront Tuesday.

Instead, the discussion centered around proposing a longer temporary spending bill, one that would fund the government through the first two months of 2015. A version of the bill introduced by the House Republican leadership last night will fund operations through Dec. 11, long enough to push any major fights past the midterm elections. But with Republicans increasingly optimistic about their chances of taking back the Senate this fall, the smarter move is to have those fights next year, when they stand a chance of controlling both chambers of Congress.

"Why would we want to go into a lame-duck session?" Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kansas, told Roll Call. "I think we ought to do it through March 1."

That was reportedly the sentiment among the seven conservatives who met with Cruz, according to Roll Call. They also conceded it might be better to delay a fight over ending the Export Import bank - which helps U.S. businesses sell overseas - until the spring. Some members of the GOP see the bank as an unnecessary government handout and want to see it shuttered.

Cruz has made a regular habit of meeting disgruntled Republicans on the House side to let them air their grievances and plot strategy. Before Congress left town for the August recess, he gathered a group in his office to discuss ways to prevent the president from taking future executive action on immigration, which helped produce the House strategy of passing a bill to bar President Obama from continuing or expanding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.