In an effort to block passage of Obamacare, Junior Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, has been speaking on the Senate floor since 2:41 pm yesterday. While not officially a filibuster, as the Senate is not currently voting on the bill, Cruz is attempting to convince the Senate to defund Obamacare by showing his resolve against its passage. Cruz remained at the podium for 22 hours and as per Senate rules, did not sit down or take any bathroom breaks. Because Cruz was allowed to field questions from other Senators, colleagues Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, and Marco Rubio of Florida chimed in at various points in the speech to assist Senator Cruz.
At one point during his speech, Cruz read Green Eggs and Ham to his daughters watching him at home, and at the 18-hour mark, he compared his anti-Obamacare effort to “Star Wars”, stating:
[his speech] 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.
Cruz planned to continue his speech until he was no longer able to stand, but at one point claimed that he was “doing fabulous”. After 22 hours however, Cruz was no longer able to stand and ended his record-setting speech.
At 3:33 this morning, Cruz broke the record for the longest speech given this year at 12 hours and 58 minutes. The previous record holder was Rand Paul, who filibustered the nomination of John Brennan as the head of the CIA in March. In order to break the record for the longest Senate address ever given, which was set in 1957 by Strom Thurmond, Cruz would have had to continue talking until 3 pm today.