| CNN | - |
Washington
(CNN) -- He spent more than 21 straight hours railing against any
government funding for Obamacare. Then Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas
joined the other 99 senators from both parties in voting Wednesday to
move ahead on a spending ...
Surprise! Obamacare foe Cruz votes with Democrats on spending plan
updated 7:52 PM EDT, Wed September 25, 2013
Sen. Ted Cruz: Obamacare, Dr. Seuss and 'Duck Dynasty'
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Cruz: Marathon floor speech was to rally GOP unity against Obamacare
- The Senate votes 100-0 to proceed on a spending plan to avoid a shutdown
- Aide: Despite voting yes, Sen. Cruz still opposes any funding for Obamacare
- Senate Majority Leader Reid calls Cruz's 21-hour speech a "waste of time"
The rare 100-0 vote on a
procedural step means the spending measure that would avoid a partial
government shutdown next week now can be amended by Senate Democrats to
restore funding for President Barack Obama's signature health care
reforms, which had been eliminated last week by House Republicans.
Cruz led a group of tea
party conservatives in trying to block Senate consideration of the
spending legislation because Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid made
clear his caucus would remove the provision that defunded Obamacare.
Cruz: Speech to last until I can't stand
Cruz's war on Obamacare
Santorum: 'I would be with Ted Cruz'
Rep. Peter King: Cruz 'a fraud'
Photos: Texas junior Senator Ted Cruz
However, Cruz came under
strong criticism from fellow Republicans for that strategy, which called
for GOP senators to filibuster the House measure that -- in its
original form -- would defund programs under the Affordable Care Act
passed in 2010 and upheld by the Supreme Court last year.
The confusion of Cruz's
strategy was apparent Wednesday when he voted with Democrats for the
Senate to take up the measure less than two hours after his marathon
speech against it that began Tuesday afternoon and continued overnight
and through the morning.
An aide to Cruz told CNN
Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash that the senator always
intended to allow formal consideration of the House measure, adding that
Cruz would vote against it once Senate Democrats restored the Obamacare
funding.
However, nothing in
Cruz's words or actions preceding the vote indicated that was his
intention. Instead, he had urged his colleagues to unite against the
spending plan, saying voting for it was tantamount to supporting
Obamacare.
"Any senator who votes
(to move forward with debate on the House measure) is voting to give
Harry Reid the authority to fund Obamacare," Cruz told Bash on Monday.
After Wednesday's vote, Cruz told reporters that his long night sought to unite Republicans to block any funding for Obamacare.
"Coming into this debate
we clearly were not united," he said. "There were significant divisions
in the conference. I hope those divisions dissolve; that we come
together in party unity" with all 46 Republicans preventing a final vote
on the spending plan once Democrats amend it to fund Obamacare.
Cruz and other tea party
conservatives wanted to prevent the Senate from taking up the spending
measure passed last week by the GOP-controlled House that makes
continued government funding contingent on denying any money for
Obamacare.
While his drawn-out
floor speech did not constitute a filibuster, it was intended to rally
opposition to the state goal of Senate Democrats to restore the
Obamacare funding.
However, Cruz lacked
support for his tactics from Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of
Kentucky and other influential veterans including Sens. John McCain of
Arizona and Bob Corker of Tennessee.
In the end, Cruz voted with them to open the spending plan to revisions by the Democratic-led chamber.
Reid called Cruz's
all-night speech a "waste of time" as the nation faced a possible
partial shutdown of the government if Congress fails to authorize
government spending beyond Monday, when the current fiscal year ends.
To Reid, the tactic
reflected a perspective that a "bad day for government" amounted to a
"good day" for tea party conservatives.
Earlier Wednesday,
Corker told CNN that a better idea would be to get the bill back to the
House as soon as possible so the Republican majority there can offer a
compromise.
"House members are
already talking about how they might respond if the defunding component
ends up being stripped out," Corker said, adding he hoped that the
Senate would "give the House some time to respond in a thoughtful way."
With Obamacare markets
for the uninsured set to open on October 1, which also begins the new
fiscal year, GOP opponents consider this their last best chance to
undermine or amend the health care reforms.
A possible GOP
counter-proposal floated by Corker would delay its full implementation
for a year. He noted that Obama already postponed another component
affecting business implementation of health care reforms for a year.
Under the process
planned by Reid, a final Senate vote on the revised spending plan would
occur over the weekend to leave the House a day at most to reconsider
it. However, Reid said Wednesday he wanted the Senate to complete its
work on the measure as soon as possible.
Cruz, as he approached
the conclusion of his overnight speech, thanked the Senate staff and
others "who have endured this Bataan death march."
When he began at 2:40
p.m. Tuesday, Cruz said he intended to "speak in support of defunding
Obamacare until I am no longer able to stand."
He filled the ensuing
hours with a blend of political rhetoric and emotional pleas for
Republicans like Corker to unite in opposition to Obamacare.\
Conservative colleagues
including Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, Marco Rubio of Florida, David Vitter of
Louisiana and James Inhofe of Oklahoma joined him at times to assume
the main talking duties and allow Cruz to rest his vocal chords.
'Green Eggs and Ham' gets a reading
On Tuesday night, he read the Dr. Seuss children's classic "Green Eggs and Ham" to his daughters.
As he reached 18 hours
of holding the Senate floor on Wednesday morning, Cruz compared his
anti-Obamacare effort to the "Star Wars" films.
Referring to having
heard someone use the phrase "rebellion against oppression," Cruz said
those words "conjured up to me the rebel alliance fighting against the
empire. The empire being the Washington, D.C., establishment."
"And indeed immediately
on hearing that phrase I wondered if at some point we would see a tall
gentleman in a mechanical breathing apparatus come forward and say in a
deep voice, `Mike Lee, I am your father.' "
Cruz said his effort "is
a fight to restore freedom to the people. This is a fight to get the
Washington establishment, the empire, to listen to the people. And just
like in the 'Star Wars' movies the empire will strike back. But at the
end of the day I think the rebel alliance, I think the people will
prevail."
Later, he called for
Senate Republicans to show the same courage as their party colleagues in
the House in making a stand to defund Obamacare.
He alluded to the risks
faced by the signers of the Declaration of Independence, noting they
were mostly wealthy landowners who faced hanging for treason for their
actions.
At 9 a.m. Wednesday, Cruz was alone on the floor, except for the presiding officer, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin.
Durbin and Cruz engaged
in some hostile exchanges, with the Illinois Democrat accusing Cruz of
trying to deny health care coverage for tens of millions of currently
uninsured Americans while enjoying the benefits of a federal health care
program.
Cruz responded that
Obamacare was flawed and hurting the country, and the focus should be on
a better solution instead of continuing on with a failed system.
Two sides battle it out on social media
Earlier, Cruz sought to
define his battle as purely about principle, saying: "This fight is not
about any member of this body. This fight is not about personalities."
"Look, most Americans
could not give a flying flip about a bunch of politicians in
Washington," he said. "Who cares? Almost all of us are in cheap suits
with bad haircuts! Who cares?"
Supporters cheered him on through social media, and #StandWithCruz became one of the most popular hashtags on Twitter.
But supporters of the
health care law made themselves heard as well. On Wednesday morning, the
two sides were battling it out in the top trending topic in the United
States: "Obamacare."
Key Republicans critical of Cruz strategy
Cruz also has been the target of criticism by some top Republicans.
GOP infighting over how
best to prevent a government shutdown while defunding Obamacare
escalated Tuesday as McConnell publicly dismissed Cruz's more
confrontational strategy.
Cruz's GOP critics
believe his strategy is politically suicidal, arguing there is no way to
stop Obamacare as long as Democrats maintain control of the Senate and
Obama is in the White House.
They believe that trying
to do so by forcing a shutdown -- or preventing an increase in the debt
ceiling next month -- will backfire by harming the economy and damaging
the Republican brand.
The Treasury Department
said Wednesday that the debt ceiling -- which is the amount the federal
government can borrow to pay its bills -- must be raised by October 17
to prevent a possible default.
House Republicans say
they will propose a package of measures that includes a one-year delay
in full implementation of Obamacare to a proposal to extend the debt
limit for a year. House Republican leaders met Wednesday evening to
discuss the policy priorities they plan to attach.
But there are signs
leadership is running into resistance from conservatives, some of whom
do not want additional borrowing. Others want to add new items while
others still question the strategy of taking up the debt bill in the
middle of fight over spending and a possible government shutdown.
The White House rejects
negotiations on the debt issue, saying something as fundamental as
ensuring the good credit of the United States must be above politics.
The last debt ceiling
fight in Congress in 2011 caused the first-ever downgrade of the U.S.
credit rating and Obama and top Democrats warn playing politics with the
issue now will cause economic harm amid the still fragile recovery.
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