Cruz passes 11 hours in marathon senate talk

Sen. Ted Cruz and allies passed 11 hours in their marathon U.S. Senate talk early Wednesday in a flagging attempt to block President Obama's healthcare reforms. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told a nearly empty Senate chamber early Wednesday the U.S. Supreme Court "unconstitutionally" overstepped its authority in upholding the constitutionality of most of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. "The Constitution was defiled" when the Supreme Court said the healthcare-overhaul requirement requiring most Americans to obtain insurance or pay a penalty was constitutional, said Lee, a former constitutional lawyer. The Supreme Court is not the only arbiter of constitutionality, he asserted, saying senators took an oath to uphold the Constitution too. Lee spoke for an hour starting shortly after midnight, giving Cruz, a freshman Republican from Texas, a break. Cruz began his marathon theatrical effort at about 2:41 p.m. vowing to "speak in support of defunding Obamacare until I am no longer able to stand." Shortly after 8 p.m., he started reading what he said were "bedtime stories" to his two young daughters, who he said were home in Texas watching on TV with his wife. Among the stories he read was the Dr. Seuss classic, "Green Eggs and Ham," in its entirety, noting it was one of his favorite children's books. But Cruz -- who compared his fight to fund the government after Monday only if all spending for Obama's healthcare law was eliminated to history's efforts by those who stood against the Nazis and those who started the American Revolution -- does not have support from senior lawmakers in his own party, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Cornyn of Texas. No matter how long he talks, the Senate will vote no later than 1 p.m. Wednesday on the first in a series of procedural measures on a House stopgap spending bill that would do what Cruz wants -- fund the government from Tuesday through mid-December while cutting off all money for the Affordable Care Act. Senate Democratic leaders are poised to answer last week's House move with a vote to eliminate the healthcare-defunding provision from the stopgap bill, then send their measure back to the House with little time for Republicans to change it. This is why senior Senate Republicans pushed Cruz to give up his stalling tactics and let the Senate take its final votes as soon as possible. An early vote would give House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, more time to plan his next move: If Cruz persists and forces the Senate to exhaust the time allowed for the necessary votes, the final vote cannot happen until Sunday, The New York Times said.