WASHINGTON -- It looks like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) may have hurt the feelings of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) by calling the freshman a schoolyard bully.
It started Monday, when Cruz objected to Reid's request for unanimous consent to appoint Senate conferees to work out the differences between the Senate and House budget bills, and pass Congress' first budget in four years.
Cruz wanted to take the unusual step of binding the conferees ahead of time, barring them from doing anything that would call for raising taxes or hiking the nation's debt limit. Reid responded that Cruz was acting like a "schoolyard bully" because the Texan had lost the debate over the budget in the first place, and was trying to win again positions that the Senate opposed.
Reid followed up Tuesday, twice describing Cruz as the "very junior senator" from Texas.
Cruz took to the floor in the evening to "praise" Reid, with backup from fellow tea party Sen. Mike Lee (Utah), who suggested Reid should apologize. Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer (Calif.) followed that with her own jibe, suggesting Cruz was "afraid" of the democratic process, and more interested in "dictatorship."
Watch Cruz, Lee and Boxer above. The Reid-Cruz spat from Monday is here.
Michael McAuliff covers Congress and politics for The Huffington Post. Talk to him on Facebook.
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