Despite being just days away from a looming government shutdown, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is showing no signs of giving up on his filibuster that began Tuesday afternoon and continued into Wednesday morning, calling for the defunding of President Obama's signature health care overhaul law.
The freshman senator took to the Senate floor Tuesday at 2:40 p.m. promising to speak out against the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as "Obamacare," "until I am no longer able to stand," reports the Washington Post. If Cruz is still going by 3:00 p.m. Wednesday, he will break the all-time record of the longest filibuster in the history of Congress set in 1957.
Cruz's speech is intended to block the passage of what is known as a continuing resolution: a motion to maintain funding for the federal government. The resolution passed the House of Representatives on Friday, but is the subject of controversy because attached to the bill is a provision that would also defund the non-mandatory elements of the Affordable Care Act.
Despite Cruz's stamina in championing a cause supported by the GOP, his efforts will more than likely complicate the House GOP effort in passing a funding bill aimed at averting a government shutdown. Some of his fellow party members have renounced Cruz's tactics in fear that Republicans will be blamed for the consequences of a government shutdown, while others note that Cruz is technically aiming to block a measure that he supports, The Guardian reports.
Nonetheless, Cruz continued to stand on the floor throughout the night, reading from children's books, talking about World War II and referencing Ashon Kutcher's recent speech at the Teen Choice Awards. He was joined in shifts by fellow conservatives Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Pat Roberts in a stand against President Obama's plan to extend health insurance in the U.S.
Cruz's speech is not technically a filibuster, as it he is merely speaking during a permitted time slot and will be forced to yield to a procedural vote by Democrats on Wednesday afternoon.
To most Americans, it looked like a traditional filibuster, fixed in the popular imagination by Jimmy Stewart's performance in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." But parliamentary procedures already in place dictate that Cruz will have to yield the floor by Wednesday afternoon at the latest.
Watch Sen. Cruz via live stream on the Senate floor below:
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