Ted Cruz: ‘I Hope’ Senate GOP Blocks Reid From Funding Obamacare

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, center, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, walk to a closed-door meeting in the Old Senate Chamber on Monday, July 15, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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After the House voted Friday to defund Obamacare, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) issued a statement calling on Senate Republicans to deny Democrats the votes to advance a continuing resolution if they try to include Obamacare funding.

Cruz’s statement in full:

“Today, the House of Representatives did what Washington pundits only a few weeks ago said was impossible: a strong bipartisan majority voted to defund Obamacare. This is a victory for House conservatives, and it is a victory for Speaker Boehner and Republican leadership.

“The American people overwhelmingly oppose Obamacare — a program which is killing jobs, dragging down the economy, and harming the most vulnerable among us. They deserve a fight — and House Republicans are leading that charge.

“But the House was just step one. Step two is the Senate, where all accounts suggest Harry Reid plans to use procedural gimmicks to try to add funding back in for Obamacare.

“If Reid pursues this plan — if he insists on using a 50-vote threshold to fund Obamacare with a partisan vote of only Democrats — then I hope that every Senate Republican will stand together and oppose cloture on the bill in order to keep the House bill intact and not let Harry Reid add Obamacare funding back in.

“Now is a time for party unity; Senate Republicans should stand side-by-side with courageous House Republicans.

“The fight to save America from Obamacare is just beginning — it may well go back and forth from the House and Senate several times — and a united Republican front means that Harry Reid and the President cannot ignore the American people.”

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