After 20-Plus Hours, Senator Ted Cruz Still Going Strong Against #ObamaCare

I wasn't expecting this.

But I've already dropped my kid off at school, and after a long night, Senator Cruz is still speaking as this blog entry goes live.

See the Washington Post, "After 20-plus hours, Sen. Cruz still talking in an effort to defeat Obamacare":

By 5 a.m., the length of Cruz’s marathon discourse — he is not allowed to leave the Senate floor, even for a bathroom break — had surpassed lengthy filibusters by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in March and the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) in 1964. He earned a lead spot on all three network morning news shows, acknowledging that he was “a little bit” tired but still looking remarkably fresh. The television anchors dubbed Cruz’s effort a “talk-a-thon,” even as they explained to viewers that his effort would not derail the legislative process.

Just before 9 a.m., Cruz told the near-empty chamber — and C-Span II viewers — that he had been reviewing a bit of the libertarian writer Ayn Rand’s literature overnight. He then started reading from “Atlas Shrugged.”


The Cruz talk-a-thon was the latest example of the increasingly stark division among Republicans, both on Capitol Hill and nationally. The Texas newcomer, just 42 and nine months into his first term in office, is carrying the banner for conservatives who urge a take-no-prisoners approach in confronting the president, even if it means shuttering the government.

But the move angered senior Republicans, who complained that Cruz and the other junior senators pushing this strategy did not understand the wounds the GOP suffered during the mid-1990s shutdown battles with President Bill Clinton. Back then, the party controlled both the House and Senate, a luxury compared with its tenuous majority in the House today.

He's still talking, via C-SPAN, "Sen. Cruz Continues Floor Speech; Senate Procedural Vote on CR Later Today."

Also at Free Beacon, "Ted Cruz Talks ‘Star Wars’ On The Senate Floor." And see Memeorandum.