When Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and his kindred Tea Party spirits in the U.S. House of Representatives tried to shut down the federal government two years ago, New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte didn't forcefully oppose it until it was too late. Ultimately, she did vote against the conservatives in a crucial vote, but only after voting with them five previous times, and too late to stop the shutdown.

That led to Ayotte taking blame, both from independents blaming her party, and from conservatives who threatened to punish her in the 2016 primary. Ayotte blew up at Cruz in a meeting of GOP senators, and spent the remainder of the shutdown trying to publicly position herself (along with Sen. Susan Collins of Maine) as a voice of reason seeking a solution to the crisis.

Cruz, now a presidential candidate, is at it again — this time centering the shutdown threat around defunding Planned Parenthood. Funding is due to run out on October 1.

Not wanting to repeat the 2013 fiasco — especially with her re-election now barely a year away — Ayotte sent a letter directly to Cruz last Thursday urging him to back down.

And, tellingly, that letter immediately found its way into a home-state newspaper, The New Hampshire Union Leader.

After stating her own objections to Planned Parenthood funding, Ayotte states in the letter: “I oppose risking a government shutdown, particularly when it appears there is no chance of achieving a successful result.”

She then demands that Cruz share his strategy for getting the necessary votes to overcome Democratic opposition – and a promised presidential veto – over defunding Planned Parenthood, “before any damaging government shutdown becomes imminent.”

It might not have been a coincidence that the letter was sent, and made public, the day before New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan formally endorsed Hillary Clinton for president at an event in Concord. Hassan is widely speculated to be planning to run for U.S. Senate against Ayotte next year.

On Thursday, Clinton was in Concord bashing Republican government shutdown threats.

Meanwhile, outside of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Democrats have been eager to both defend Planned Parenthood, and criticize the shutdown threat.

Rep. Jim McGovern led floor debate on the topic in the House last week, with Reps. Niki Tsongas and Maine's Chellie Pingree among the speakers.

Rep. Joe Kennedy used his position on the Energy and Commerce Committee to raise objections to testimony about Planned Parenthood.

The Hot Ticket: Pope Francis

New England being the most heavily Catholic region of the country, it's no surprise that constituent interest is high for Pope Francis's upcoming address to a special joint session of Congress, on September 24.

Getting inside for the speech is a real Golden Ticket: each member can bring just one guest to watch from the gallery.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island is bringing Sister Jane Gerety, president of Salve Regina University. Sen. Angus King of Maine's guest will be Rev. Mike Seavey, pastor and administrator of the Portland Peninsula and Island Parishes.

Others are keeping it closer to home. Kennedy's guest will be his wife. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire is taking her husband. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine has given the ticket to her mother – who, it should be noted, formerly ran Catholic Charities of Maine.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren told WCVB that she invited her granddaughter — who turned her down, saying she was unable to miss school.

And as of Friday, Sen. Ed Markey had not yet decided who to take, his office tells me.

Rep. Katherine Clark took a different approach, holding an essay contest for the privilege. The winner, she announced last week, is Malden seventh-grader Dylan Lopez.

Those unable to get inside will be able to watch on a jumbotron screen on the Capitol front lawn — where presidential inaugurals are held.

Members of Congress have been given some tickets to distribute for seating there. Most are giving them out on a first-come, first-served basis; several in the area still had a small number available as of this writing.

Shaheen Steps Up For Refugees

Terrible scenes of Syrian refugees have been reaching American living rooms through the daily news, with few signs of abating.

On Capital Hill, Shaheen has been stepping up as a leader among Democrats trying to improve the United States response. The New Hampshire senator is the Democratic ranking member on the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation.

Last Thursday, Shaheen convened a meeting with the U.S. ambassadors to the European Union, Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Eight Democratic senators, including Markey of Massachusetts, and both Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy of Connecticut, joined the meeting.

Shaheen invited Republican senators to the meeting, but none attended.

The ambassadors gave an update on the situation, and the efforts in Europe to handle it, according to Shaheen's office.

Shaheen has advocated for the United States to take in more of the refugees, but is also looking for ways to help Europe — and to find broader solutions to the crisis in Syria.

Shaheen is also pressing Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to schedule a vote to confirm Gayle Smith as administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). That agency, which helps coordinate humanitarian efforts around the world, has a substantial role in the refugee crisis.

Smith's nomination was approved by committee four months ago; Shaheen, I am told, was surprised to return from summer recess with the refugee crisis raging, to find Smith still not scheduled for a full confirmation vote.

"Unfortunately, our country's ability to lead this effort is significantly hampered by the failure of the Senate to vote on Gayle Smith's nomination to lead USAID," Shaheen wrote in a letter to McConnell last week.

King Cuts Through Paperwork

This column likes to occasionally take note of the little things that get done in Washington, despite the apparent immobility of Congress as a whole.

Last week saw two examples in which 71-year-old King got the Obama administration to adopt some technology, to make things a little bit easier for folks.

One will be welcome by visitors to Acadia National Park, who will soon be able to purchase their passes online.

King used his seat on the Senate Energy and National Research Committee to press the Interior Department to adopt electronic park passes, helping lead to last week's pilot program announcement. Acadia will be one of several parks to try out the new system.

King was also part of a group that helped convince the U.S. Department of Education to adopt a change to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process. It will allow students to directly import prior-year income data to the FAFSA system, rather than waiting to input current year information. Although a seemingly small, technical change, proponents say it could significantly speed up and ease the student aid process.

King, along with Collins, also announced some grants awarded to Maine last week — including $1 million to the University of Maine to study farming technology.

Social media photo of the week

Collins posted this shot of herself Thursday heading to cast her 6,000th consecutive — the highest active streak in the Senate, encompassing 18 years without missing the bell once.

Senator Collins on her way to cast her 6,000th consecutive vote #mepolitics pic.twitter.com/7Isow4pulH