Washington ( CNN ) -- It 's a scenario we 've seen before : a gridlocked Congress pushes off legislative action until the last minute . But this time , leaders could n't reach a deal before they were scheduled to break for a five-week recess . House Speaker John Boehner and his new leadership team were prepared to pass a bill to fund a response to the crisis at the southern border . But then , Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called a pizza party , and all bets were off . The bill that Boehner was pushing was n't even expected to be taken up by the Senate because Democrats oppose a proposed fix to a 2008 law that makes it more difficult to deport children from Central America . Coming in at $ 659 million -- after Republican leaders twice scaled down their proposal from an initial $ 1.5 billion -- the bill was a sliver of President Barack Obama 's $ 3.7 billion request . Certainly no one could suggest Republicans were caving in to the White House . But Cruz and his tea party allies in the House were determined to oppose the bill unless GOP leaders tacked on a provision that would reverse an Obama administration policy shielding young migrants and toughen the United States ' deportation policy . Less than 24 hours after Cruz pow-wowed with House Republicans over pizza pies , Boehner canceled the vote when he realized he did n't have enough support to pass what was already considered no more than a show vote . Cruz denied playing a lead role in killing the bill , but insiders were quick to give the senator a new title : Speaker Cruz . Oh , and of course , BuzzFeed 's D.C. bureau chief piped in . Then there 's this zinger from a Republican strategist and CNN political commentator : . Meanwhile , Cruz gave an exclusive interview to the Washington Post 's Robert Costa , whose reporting has led the narrative on Cruz 's role . That denial has n't kept House GOP leadership aides and rank-and-file Republicans from pinning the bill 's failure on Cruz getting involved in the wrong chamber . It would n't be the first time that 's happened . But maybe Washington is just delusional , as Cruz suggested Thursday on Twitter . It certainly did n't stop Democrats from seizing on the idea of Cruz , a tea party favorite who has rubbed establishment Republicans the wrong way more than once , leading the Republican caucus . Democrats also criticized Boehner for acting to sue Obama for abusing his executive authority , and then calling on him to act unilaterally to address the border crisis . The Democratic Party 's national press secretary jumped at the chance to slam Boehner 's leadership failure : . Tea party backers did n't hesitate either , like Laura Ingraham , the influential conservative radio host . Conservative pundit Erick Erickson , who said House Republicans should tack the Cruz-backed provision to a border bill , also weighed in . Right or wrong , these new optics are not threading a positive storyline for congressional Republicans , especially ahead of the 2014 midterms . These questions about the influence of the House GOP leaders could n't come at a worse time as House Republicans transitioned leadership into new hands . Reps. Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise just took over as House majority leader and majority whip , respectively , after Rep. Eric Cantor officially stepped down as the No . 2 House Republican on Thursday . Despite the official change in leadership . Observers floated questions about who actually retained control of the house after the Cantor passed the baton to McCarthy and Scalise , suggesting that a de facto leader was really calling the shots . Cantor 's primary loss to an underfunded insurgent challenger stunned the Republican establishment in June . And it appears the tea party -- this time embodied by Cruz and his allies in the House -- is continuing to give GOP leaders a headache . Which makes the timing of Cantor 's exit a genius move . .
Cruz is being considered by many as the man who killed the House security guard . Allies gathered over pizza and the next day Cruz realized he did n't have enough allies . Cruz and his allies denied that he twisted arms to get his way . Cruz has a new moniker : ` ` ' Cruz ''