Washington • Days before the October 2013 government shutdown, Sens. Mike Lee and Ted Cruz bowed their heads in the Texas Republican's Capitol office, read from the Book of Psalms and asked for guidance from God.
Cruz then walked to the Senate floor and began a 21-hour-long marathon speech lambasting Obamacare, spelled on occasion by Lee, whom Cruz paints in his new book as his right-hand man and best buddy.
"Over the course of the filibuster a number of allies stood by my side, none more courageously or indispensably than Senator Mike Lee," Cruz writes in "A Time for Truth: Reigniting the Promise of America."
"Mike was with me on the Senate floor during the entire course of the filibuster," Cruz adds, "from the beginning, through the dark of night, till the very end at high noon the next day."
Cruz and Lee have been described as the Senate's Batman and Robin, and the Texan lavishes praise on the Republican Utah senator in his book, released as Cruz begins his presidential campaign.
Cruz — whose strategy with Lee to kill Obamacare funding by tying it to the passage of the budget led to the 16-day shutdown — defends their plan to this day.
"We didn't shut down the government," Cruz writes. "Neither I, nor Mike Lee, nor the House Republicans even once voted to shut down the government. To the contrary, over and over again we voted to fund the government. From the outset I stated repeatedly that we should fund the entire federal government and defund Obamacare."
And while Cruz takes plenty of space in his book to bash Democrats, he also scolds his fellow Republicans for not standing up for the principles they espouse.
When Lee and Cruz pitched their plan to try to withhold money to implement the Affordable Care Act, the Texan writes, "their reaction was immediate, visceral, and virtually unanimous. 'Absolutely not!' 'A terrible idea!'" Cruz writes. "Indeed, they openly laughed at the idea, telling Mike and me that we just didn't understand how Washington works. But when we asked them for their alternative, there were crickets. There was no alternative — do nothing was leadership's alternative — but they vehemently opposed our plan."
Cruz says Republicans weren't actually playing to win in the debate over the shutdown because they should have welcomed the fight with then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., as the GOP-led House passed stopgap bills to fund certain parts of the government such as Veterans Affairs and Reid declined to take them up for a vote.
"Republican leadership didn't want to win," Cruz says. "Some readers might think that sounds a little harsh. You might assume they wanted to win, but just couldn't. Their behavior suggested otherwise."
Cruz noted that he first became friends with Lee after meeting him in November 2010 at the Federalist Society's National Lawyers Convention in Washington, and their mutual respect blossomed. Lee was one of the first elected officials to endorse Cruz's bid for the Senate.
"We walked the Capitol hallways talking for hours about legal issues, constitutional issues, and the challenges facing our country," Cruz says. "We found ourselves agreeing on almost every topic we could come up with."
Lee, who recently came out with his own book, "Our Lost Constitution," is so far neutral in the GOP race for the presidential nomination, given that three of his closest allies, Cruz and Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida, are vying for the job.
"I hope to be as supportive as I can of all three of them," Lee previously said, "because I really genuinely like all three of them."
tburr@sltrib.com
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, center, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, walk to a closed-door meeting in the Old Senate Chamber for a showdown between Republican and Democratic leaders over presidential nominees that have been blocked by a GOP filibuster, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, July 15, 2013. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid insisted in advance that Republicans permit yes-or-no confirmation votes on all seven of the nominees at issue. If they won't, he declared, Democrats will change the Senate's rules to strip them of their ability to delay. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, right, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015, to discuss the Department of Homeland Security funding bill. From left are, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Rep. Chris Stewart R-Utah, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Rep. Robert B. Aderholt, R-Ala. and Cruz. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)
Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga., center, speaks at a news conference with conservative Congressional Republicans who persuaded the House leadership to include defunding the Affordable Care Act in legislation to prevent a government shutdown at the end of the month, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013. From left to right are Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., Rep. Mark Meadows, R-NC, Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga., Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, left, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, greet the audience during a rally at the Western Republican Leadership Conference Friday, April 25, 2014, in Sandy, Utah. Cruz, headlined the final day of a two-day conference in Utah where Republican party leaders from western states are meeting. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas listen at right as Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015, to discuss the Department of Homeland Security funding bill. On Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner left open the possibility of a potential shutdown at the department because of a congressional impasse over immigration. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, left, has a word with Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, after Cruz spoke at the Susan B. Anthony List "Campaign for Life Gala and Summit", a gathering of anti-abortion advocates, in Washington, Wednesday, March 12, 2014. Looking to aid political candidates who share their views, anti-abortion activists are auditioning potential 2016 presidential contenders. Like many evangelicals, the Susan B. Anthony List is in search of an anti-abortion crusader who has a shot at winning the Republican nomination in 2016 after back-to-back presidential nominees that left the socially conservative wing of the GOP ambivalent at best.(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Tea party conservatives Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, left, walk to a meeting as the Senate prepares to vote on a measure to avert a threatened Treasury default and reopen the government after a partial, 16-day shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, left, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, during a news conference with conservative Congressional Republicans at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013. Cruz and Lee stand as the Senates dynamic duo for conservatives, crusading against President Barack Obamas health care law while infuriating many congressional Republicans with a tactic they consider futile, self-serving and detrimental to the partys political hopes in 2014. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, center, flanked by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., left, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015, to discuss the Department of Homeland Security funding bill. On Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner left open the possibility of a potential shutdown at the department because of a congressional impasse over immigration. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)
In this Oct. 16, 2013, photo, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, left, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, walk to the Senate floor to vote on a bill to raise the debt ceiling and fund the government on Capitol Hill in Washington. The budget-debt brawl has widened the rift between the Grand Old Party and tea party lawmakers who are upset that House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell agreed to the plan to reopen government without extracting any limits on President Barack Obama's health care law.(AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2013 file photo Armed Services committee member, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, questions former Sen. Chuck Hagel (not shown), President Obama's choice for defense secretary, during Hagel's confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Weeks into his job, Texas Republicans are cheering Cruz's indelicate debut and embracing him as one of their own. The insurgent Republican elected with the tea party's blessing and bankroll, has run afoul of GOP mainstays, and prompted Democrats to compare his style to McCarthyism. Also seen from left are Sen.s Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Mike Lee, R-Utah. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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