Sen Ted Cruz (R., Texas) said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) has to move off of his "absolutist" position against compromise on the continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown Sunday on Meet the Press.
Cruz noted "you have seen multiple compromises from the House Republicans" but Reid has not reciprocated.
Host David Gregory countered that in order for Cruz and the GOP to be successful in these negotiations they would have to convince Democrats to support their tactics.
The junior senator from Texas pointed out Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.) just this week endorsed the idea of delaying the individual mandate for a year, lending bipartisan credence to efforts to attain concessions from Reid:
TED CRUZ: Look, I don't want a government shutdown. I don't think that Harry Reid should shut down the government. The house of Representatives did something significant, which is they passed a bill to make clear that regardless of what happens the men and women of our military -- they should be paid. that passed unanimously in the house. And listen, right now, Harry Reid and president Obama had been essentially holding the military hostage, threatening their paychecks over this potential shutdown. They might force. I think regardless of what happened we should pass the bill. We should not have a shutdown, which means Harry Reid has to move off his absolutist position. You have been multiple compromises from the Republicans, and can you tell me what the Democrats have done to compromise --
DAVID GREGORY: But what has he done -- as I outlined before, you have lost ground from even the summer on the position of getting people to vote with you. You lost ground from that position and you haven't persuaded one Democrat. You got to have Democrats if you're going to overturn this thing.
CRUZ: Well, actually, Joe Manchin came out saying he supported the delay in the original mandate. Listen, last time this was in the Senate, there was division among the Republicans. I had hoped the Republicans would be United. That didn't happen, I'll tell you this, this next time around, this is an opportunity for Senate Republicans --