Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, leaves a shooting range. On Monday, he criticized President Obama for again being late with a budget plan. (Photo from Flickr)
Sen. John Cornyn is a tall and lean Texan who often walks the halls of the United States Senate in a dark tan suit and cowboy boots. In fact, if he added an off-white cowboy hat, Cornyn would easily pass for a straight-shootin’ plains sheriff. Maybe that’s why his role as the blunt-speaking Republican whip seems to fit as well as that tan suit and boots.
Since Cornyn took over as the No. 2 Republican senator last year, he has developed sharp political elbows, becoming one of the upper chamber’s leading critics of Democratic President Barack Obama. To that end, Cornyn and other Republicans have opened a new front against Obama, hammering him in recent days for his plans to deliver another spending plan to Capitol Hill late.
First came another Senate GOP veteran, Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who issued a fact-based statement that listed the 18 times the Obama administration has been late with a spending plan.
Enter Cornyn, who issued a statement Monday on the subject. Let’s just say Cornyn was as sharp as a Texas steer’s horns.
“Less than a week after the president stood before Congress and demand action on his biggest priorities, the president failed to meet one of his most basic responsibilities – submit a budget to Congress,” Cornyn said of the annual executive branch spending plan, typically delivered to lawmakers in early February.