Free Republic

Senator Ted Cruz’s 21-hour effort Tuesday and Wednesday drew derision from both inside and outside the halls of the Capitol. But Cruz’s allies tell National Review Online that they hope his “talking filibuster” could end up being a game-changer in the Senate. Advocates of the defund effort are pushing for Senate Republicans to vote against cloture on the House-written CR on Friday, in an effort to keep Reid from adding an amendment to strip the bill of the provision that defunds the Affordable Care Act. It would take 41 votes to prevent cloture, and there’s nowhere near that much support...

Senate Republicans will face a crucial vote or votes before week's end that could determine the relevancy of the Grand Old Party. With public opinion polls showing overwhelming opposition to ObamaCare, the test will be whether the GOP can pull off a principled vote or votes to, in effect, defund the behemoth legislation that is the single biggest job killer ever in America. From labor unions to Main Street, Americans are opposed. Keep the government funded, but defund ObamaCare. Reform healthcare in a bipartisan way, but defund ObamaCare. Senate Republicans have a chance to stand on principle like the House...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., September 25, 2013 — While Republicans and Democrats alike excoriate Texas Senator Ted Cruz for his filibuster, everyone, including establishment media, miss the truth. It is neither Cruz nor House Republicans who are threatening to shut down the government over funding for Obamacare. It is Democrats, led by the president and the majority leader of the Senate. Under the United States Constitution, that much-maligned but still valid document, spending bills must originate in the House of Representatives. The Framers did this because the House was directly elected by the people and therefore most closely represents the will...

Reaction from Rep. Tom Graves (Video at source link)

It is quite clear that the deceptively-named “Affordable Care Act” (aka Obamacare), was NOT supported by “We the People” when it was crammed down our throats three years ago so we could “see what’s in it”. Its popularity has plummeted since then as we’ve found out. Support has dwindled in recent months among the middle and lower classes whose very jobs are threatened by it as employers cut work hours to avoid it, and traditional Democratic “bases” like unions realize they’ve been deceived. Even arch-O’supporter Warren Buffet is now on record against it. One response by the administration—arguably illegal—is to...

A few days ago CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin, speaking about the Republican House bill defunding Obamacare, commented, “Certainly not the way the Founding Fathers maybe drew this thing up.” It’s certainly a surprise to hear an anchor on CNN, an organization biased in favor of progressives, appealing to the authority of the Constitution. For a century the progressives have been telling us that the Constitution is an outmoded document from a different age, and needs to be “modernized” to meet the challenges of a new world. Listen to Woodrow Wilson in his 1913 book The New Freedom. “I am ....

Real Clear Politics | Sept. 23, 2013 By Sen. Ted Cruz Just a few weeks ago the Washington establishment said the Republican-led House of Representatives could never pass a funding bill that would keep the government open while defunding Obamacare. They were wrong. All across the country Americans spoke up, asking Congress to stop this terrible law. Over 1.5 million signed the dontfundit.com petition, and thousands more sign every day. Tens of thousands of calls poured into the offices of senators and congressmen. They changed the dynamic. As a result, on Friday, House Republicans passed a bill that fully funds...

Hoover Institution senior fellow Thomas Sowell argued Tuesday that the defund Obamacare effort is serving as a helpful distraction from President Obama’s low approval ratings and the controversies facing the administration. In his weekly column, Sowell pointed out that while the Obamacare law should be defunded, efforts to defund it are only pulling attention away from Obama’s vulnerabilities, including discontent among his own supporters, criticism on Syria, the continuing IRS scandal, Benghazi and the unfolding of the “train wreck” Obamacare. “What could possibly rescue Barack Obama from all these political problems and create a distraction that takes all his scandals...

Ted Cruz was on the floor of the Senate today making the case about defunding Obamacare and keeping the government open. While he may not be successful, as even Mitch McConnell abandoned the cause and the sniping from Republicans continues — even as to his eligibility for President — at least he was making the case. This video starts with some procedural issues in which Cruz asked for unanimous consent to approve the House Obamacare defunding bill, and Harry Reid not surprisingly objected. Jump ahead to 6:25 for Cruz’s statement on the merits.

Excellent Senate statements by Ted Cruz re: Obamacare and the Democrat threats to shutdown the government. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26T2WtrlqsQ

Let's be absolutely clear here. If the Democrat controlled Senate rejects the Continuing Resolution passed by the House that completely funds the entire government except for President Obama's unconstitutional, nation-wrecking, job-killing, pet project, the trainwreck also known as "Obamacare," then it is they (Obama and the Democrat Senate) who are clearly ordering the totally radical and unnecessary shutdown the of the federal government. The bill passed by the House fully funds all legitimate government functions. The people do not want federal government controlling their healthcare and they are speaking through their elected representatives. It would be prudent for the President...

This has been the worst time, politically, for President Barack Obama since he took office. Recent polls reveal that public confidence in both his domestic and foreign policies has been falling, amid revelations about their defects and dangers. Even people who once supported and defended him have now turned against him. There have even been rumblings against Barack Obama in the Congressional Black Caucus and among labor unions that were a major factor in helping him get elected and re-elected. Two of President Obama's own former Secretaries of Defense have publicly criticized his gross mishandling of the Syria crisis, which...

Republicans who fear the effects of a possible government shutdown over Obamacare next month seem, chiefly, to fear that Republicans will be blamed. This blame would translate into losses in next year’s mid-term elections, and if those losses are large enough, they could cost the GOP not only a shot at re-taking the Senate, but could cost control of the House as well. Democrat control of Congress would give Barack Obama nearly unchallenged power for his final two years in office. Some Republicans fear the consequences of a shutdown so much that they’re smearing Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texan who...

Two Democratic members of the House voted with Republicans Friday to defund Obamacare and fund the government until the end of the year: Utah Rep. Jim Matheson and North Carolina Rep. Mike McIntyre. Matheson is the sole Democratic member of the Utah delegation, a state that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won with almost 73 percent of the vote. Matheson, on the other hand, eked out a win in 2012, beating former Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love in 2012 by fewer than 3,000 votes. Love has said she will challenge Matheson again in 2014. McIntyre’s race was even tighter: he...

20 Sep Republican Sen's Who Are UNDECIDED On Defunding Obamacare! Let's help them decide! Please RETWEET!! #DefundObamacare pic.twitter.com/xn8nG6Y9v6

http://conservatives4palin.com/2013/09/governor-palins-interview-with-shannon-bream-video.html Cruz is up first for 30 seconds then Palin. Great video!

Sen. Rand Paul conceded Saturday that congressional Republicans have little chance of stopping Obamacare. “We probably can’t defeat or get rid of Obamacare,” the Kentucky senator told reporters at a gathering of Michigan Republicans, according to the Associated Press. Paul acknowledged that time is running out for Congress to pass a government funding bill, however he said House Republicans’ efforts to defund Obamacare in its government funding bill could lead to a compromise. ~~snip~~ Reid has said any bill defunding Obamacare would be dead on arrival, and Sen. John McCain said Thursday that it was “not rational” to think the...

**SNIP** As both Rich and Bob have noted, the Texas senator and his colleague Mike Lee have long said they are relying on a popular uprising to force senators’ hands. Cruz alluded to that on Sunday. After the House vote, and with a 60-vote threshold in the Senate, he suggested that calls from constituents may begin to flood into the offices of red-state Democrats like Arkansas’ Mark Pryor and Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu. That, he said, “changes the calculus entirely,” and may push some Democrats to vote in favor of the measure to defund. That also remains to be seen. But...

Perhaps the most significant public-opinion information on ObamaCare for policymakers in Washington, D.C., are the results of a poll published by Rasmussen on September 17. According to the survey of 1,000 likely voters, 51 percent of Americans support shutting down the U.S. government until GOP and Democrat lawmakers in Congress can figure out how to cut the massive federal budget — and how to slash funding for Obama’s deeply controversial healthcare regime. ..

There is a most vigorous debate now taking place in America. I'm not willing to say it is as virulent as the debate surrounding the original passage of the Affordable Care Act, but the debate over defunding Obamacare is running a close second. I'm not even willing to discuss the rhetoric President Obama is using, as it is so far off base, it isn't even close to the truth. In spite of what the man thinks, not everything is about him. Rather, it is about preventing a train wreck doing even further damage to the American economy, in the form...