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Cruz told reporters after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced a resolution to temporarily fund the government that he felt the Kentucky Republican was no longer the leader of the body where the GOP holds an eight-seat majority.

"The position of Republican leadership boils down to this: They will support 100% of the priorities of Democrats," said Cruz, a Republican who is running for president. "Today, the leader in the Senate is Harry Reid because Republican leadership has said nothing will pass without Harry Reid's support. Today, the leader in the House is Nancy Pelosi."

Senate leadership has frustrated Cruz's attempt to permanently defund Planned Parenthood, which is under attack for secretly taped, edited videos that have tarnished the women's health group, as part of current budget talks. Republican leaders have said they have no appetite for risking a Cruz-led shutdown that would defund the organization.

Cruz has made Republicans his foil just as often as he has Democrats -- often criticizing the "McConnell-Reid leadership team" -- but the Texas senator's blast is the latest signal that his fight with top Senate Republicans is intensifying as the Sept. 30 budget deadline approaches. Republicans said Tuesday that Cruz did not attend the conference's regular lunch.

Democrats and Republican legislators are at a budget logjam over whether to continue public funding to Planned Parenthood. The White House has said they will not sign a budget that cuts funding for the organization, which funds women's health services beyond abortions, but congressional Republicans have said that defunding the group remains a top priority. Republican leadership, nervous about the political ramifications of a shutdown, are frustrated by conservatives -- like Cruz -- who want to stare down Democrats.

Cruz has circulated a letter asking for his fellow senators to commit to defunding the group, which is under investigation but has denied any wrongdoing. Cruz wouldn't say Tuesday whether or not any of his colleagues had signed on in solidarity.

McConnell on Tuesday moved to bring up a bill to fund the government through Dec. 11, a measure that would bar money for Planned Parenthood. But Senate Democrats are expected to filibuster the plan Thursday, moments after Pope Francis addresses a joint session of Congress. Then McConnell plans to bring up a clean funding bill -- without restrictions on the women's health group -- soon after to avoid a shutdown on Oct. 1.

It remains unclear how deep the presidential candidate will dig in his heels. Cruz led a partial shutdown over Obamacare in October 2013, but he declined to answer a question about whether he would wage a talking filibuster to stymie the funding bill this time around. He said Tuesday that avoiding a shutdown "on its face, sounds reasonable."

Cruz nevertheless indicated that McConnell's plan wouldn't suffice, saying that a continuing resolution should eliminate all of the group's public funding and also force the White House to reveal the full details of the nuclear agreement reached with Iran.

"We should not be content with simple show votes, which is Republican leadership's favorite strategy." said Cruz. "My focus is on urging leadership to actually lead."

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Ted Cruz: Democrats now control Congress - CNNPolitics.com

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Meet the future for Ohio Democrats - Editorial - Ohio

The U.S. Democratic Party is one of the two biggest political parties in the United States. The other is the Republican Party. The U.S. also has several smaller political parties known as "third parties." Supporters of this party are known as Democrats.

Every four years the party holds a National Convention where they agree on their candidate for President. The Democratic National Committee coordinates most of the activities of the Democratic party in all 50 United States. There have been 15 Democratic presidents, the most recent being Barack Obama, who has served since 2009.

Sometimes Democrats are called "the left", "liberals" or "progressives", even though not all Democrats are left-wing or liberal. Many Democrats, particularly in the South and Rocky Mountains of the United States, are conservative or moderate). In the United States, each of the political parties are large coalitions that cover many different kinds of ideology. A mostly Democratic state is sometimes called a "blue state".

Generally Democrats support:

Most support for Democrats comes from states in the Northeast, and Pacific Coast areas of the USA, but there are Democrats elected to office in all other states too.

The symbol of the Democratic Party is the Donkey. Since the election of 2000, the color blue has become a symbol for Democrats.[source?]

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Story highlights As Congress heads into a summer recess set to feature intense lobbying, many Democrats have already endorsed the Iran deal. The Planned Parenthood debate is taking some attention away from Republicans' effort to turn up the heat on Democrats on Iran.

As Congress heads into a summer recess set to feature intense lobbying by both sides, many Democrats have already endorsed the agreement. On Thursday, after Obama gave a fiery speech warning of harsh consequences should Congress vote it down, two more Democrats who were wavering came out in support: Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.

Republicans have scheduled a mid-September vote on a resolution to reject the Iran deal, which is expected to pass, and have eyed the August recess as the time to build up public pressure against the agreement. But with the latest string of Democrats coming out in favor of the deal, it is growing increasingly difficult for Republicans in the House and Senate to secure the votes they need -- 44 and 13 respectively -- from Democrats to help them override the veto Obama's promised.

Even the announcement Thursday night by New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, slated to become the Democratic leader in the next Senate, might not be enough to slow the White House's momentum.

READ: McConnell vows full debate on Iran, promises no government shutdown

He's the most influential Democrat to come out in opposition to the deal, a stance long sought by the agreement's opponents, many of whom are his constituents.

But the decision to make his position public on the heels of a string of endorsements was being seen in the White House as a signal that it has a veto-proof number of supporters and it was safe for Schumer to oppose the deal without jeopardizing the President's agenda.

"We're very confident that we can hold that veto, with the Democratic Caucus in the House and also the Senate," Ben Rhodes, the President's deputy national security advisor, told CNN on Wednesday.

In the House, the list of Democrats publicly opposing the deal is relatively short so far. It does, however, include a handful in senior positions -- New York's Steve Israel, Nita Lowey and, as of Thursday night, Eliot Engel among them, though House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has endorsed the deal.

The resistance from members of the President's party comes chiefly from those representing districts with significant Jewish constituencies, many of whom are fiercely opposed to the administration's foreign policy in the Middle East.

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White House sees Democrats lining up on Iran - CNNPolitics.com

As Congress heads into its long August recess, the White House and the American Israel Public Affairs Committeeare lobbying Democrats hard in anticipation of a September vote on the Iran nuclear deal. But both sides have given those Democrats who are set to oppose them a second option; they are asking them to at least delay announcing their decision until they get back.

The calculation for askingDemocratsto delay their announcementsis defensive:Neither side wants the other to establish momentum that would precipitate a cascade of commitments over the coming weeks

President Barack Obama and other top officials have been in near constant communication withHouse and Senate Democrats,through group and one-on-one interactions, to urge them to support the P5+1 deal with Iran and vote against theresolution of disapprovalput forthTuesdayby House Foreign Affairs Committee ChairmanEd Royce.Bob Corker, Royce's opposite number in the Senate, could introduce a companion version of the disapproval measure as early as later this week.

Members of Congressand theirstaffers tell us that the White House has asked Democratswho are expected to oppose the deal to hold off on announcing their positionuntil September, when Congress will be focused on the agreement. On the other side, AIPACand itslobbyists are now asking members who are leaning toward supporting the agreement to likewise hold off on their announcements until after the recess.

One pro-Israel lobbyist told us that AIPACis asking members who might support the nuclear deal to wait until after the Congressional recess for more information. Between now and Labor Day, Congress may learn much more aboutthe side agreementsreached between the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iranover how inspectors will gain access to suspected sites andverify information about the history of Iran's nuclear program.

There are about two dozen Congressional Democrats who are being targeted heavily by both sides -- either party leaders orprominent figuresin the pro-Israel community who thought to have influence over other the thinking of their colleagues. Chief among them are Senator Charles Schumer of New York, Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking Democrat Ben Cardin of Maryland, and Jewish Democratic lawmakers such as SenatorRichard Blumenthal of Connecticut.

In an interview, Blumenthal declined to talk about his private conversations with the Obama administration or AIPAC, but he told ushe wont be swayed by either the White Houses political pressure or the $40 million lobbying campaign sponsored by AIPAC and other groups opposed to the deal.

Im going to be spending all of August talking to my constituents because I want to understand what they are thinking, he said. My overriding and single concern is what is the right thing to do for our nation.

Royce told us he isaskinghis Democratic colleagues to consider a bipartisan letter most of them signed earlier this year that laid out four conditions for a good agreement. Royce said on every single one of those conditions, from resolving outstanding questions about the history of Iran's nuclear issues to calling for "anytime, anywhere" inspections of suspected sites, the deal reached in Vienna last month does not meet the standards.

Royce also told us the second case he is making is to look at Iran's foreign meddlingtoday in Gaza, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. "As Iran continues with this aggression I think it potentially will impact the decisions of members of the House of Representatives," he said.

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Democrats Under Pressure to Stay Silent on Iran Deal ...