On September 24, 2013, Cruz began a speech on the floor of the Senate regarding the Affordable Care Act relative to a continuing resolution designed to fund the government and avert a government shutdown.Cruz promised to keep speaking until he was "no longer able to stand."[91] Cruz yielded the floor at noon the following day for the start of the proceeding legislative session after twenty-one hours nineteen minutes.[92] His speech was the fourth-longest in United States Senate history.[93] Following Cruz's speech, the Senate voted 100–0 regarding a "procedural hurdle toward passing a stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown."[94] Cruz was joined by 18 Republican senators in his effort to prevent stripping out a clause that would have defunded the Affordable Care by voting against the cloture motion, leaving the effort 21 votes short of the required number to deny cloture.[95]
Cruz is believed to a major force behind the U.S. government shutdown in 2013.[96][97] Cruz delivered a message on October 11, 2013 to fellow Republicans against accepting Obamacare and describing it as a "train wreck," claimed the American people remain "energized" around the goal of gutting the law.[98] Cruz stated Obamacare is causing "enormous harm" to the economy.[98] Republican strategist Mike Murphy stated: "Cruz is trying to start a wave of Salem witch trials in the G.O.P. on the shutdown and Obamacare, and that fear is impacting some people’s calculations on 2016
白露为霜: On September 24, 2013, Cruz began a speech on the floor of the Senate regarding the Affordable Care Act relative to a continuing resolution designed t