When was the last time there was a unanimous vote like that?
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/us/politics/senate-budget-battle.html?hp&_r=1&
WASHINGTON — Republican Senator Ted Cruz’s 21-hour, 19-minute verbal assault on President Obama’s signature health care law ended Wednesday when the Senate voted 100-to-0 to break off debate and move to consider House legislation that Democrats plan to use to keep the government open next week.
Mr. Cruz’s marathon session — which began Tuesday afternoon, went straight through the night and ended at a predetermined noon deadline — did not win over senators from either party, and in fact Mr. Cruz even voted to open debate. After the vote, Senate Mike Lee, Republican of Utah and a Cruz ally, said Mr. Cruz never intended to oppose the motion to take up the bill, a position contradicted by his words and procedural motions for days before the tally.
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, greeted the conclusion of Mr. Cruz’s performance by declaring it “a big waste of time.”
The vote ended debate and the Senate will formally take up a bill the House passed that keeps the government open through Dec. 15 while gutting the president’s Affordable Care Act.
That legislation is precisely what Mr. Cruz, a Texas Republican, has clamored for, but he opposed taking it up, knowing that Democratic leaders would most likely have the votes to strip out the health care language and other Republican policies attached.
But with his indefatigable loquaciousness, Mr. Cruz managed to raise his own profile, anger some colleagues, thrill others, and elevate further the war over the health care law. The program begins enrolling the uninsured on Tuesday, the same day much of the government would shut down if the budget showdown were not resolved.
“We must all hang together or we most assuredly will all hang separately,” Mr. Cruz said in the 11th hour of his stand, quoting Benjamin Franklin and addressing his fellow Republican senators. He vowed to keep up his parliamentary battle to thwart “the train wreck, the nightmare, the disaster that is Obamacare.”
Just feet away from the Senate chamber, in the ornate Lyndon Baines Johnson Room, Senate Democratic women gathered with mothers and babies to castigate the effort and defend the health care law.
“They can talk for the rest of this term. They can stand there day and night. They can shut down government, and those who are colluders can stand with them,” fumed Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland. “We are going to stand with the people of the United States of America.”
Senator Debbie Stabenow, Democrat of Michigan, said Mr. Cruz’s performance “changes nothing. He’s gotten a lot of airtime, and that’s something I’m sure he’s pleased about.”
Wednesday’s vote is the first in a series that will culminate in a final vote on Sunday. Later this week, Mr. Reid will formally introduce a new version of the House stopgap-spending bill stripped of the health care language and shortened to keep the government operating from Oct. 1 to Nov. 15 rather than Dec. 15, as the House wanted. The biggest vote will most likely come this weekend, when Democrats must win over 60 senators to cut off debate on their leader’s bill.
If they succeed, Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio would have a matter of hours to decide whether to have the House vote on the Senate’s spending bill over the strenuous opposition of conservative activists or to add new Republican policy provisions to the spending bill and send it back to the Senate, a move sure to shutter the government.
Even many Republicans have encouraged House leaders to relent.
“There’s no other way,” said Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona. “As soon as we have 67 votes in the United States Senate, we’ll win. Unfortunately we’re not even close.”
For now, Mr. Cruz is basking in his moment.
His performance was not technically a filibuster. He merely held the floor until the clock ran out on the procedural vote, which he could not delay. But nine months into his first term in elective office, the Texan has become a lightning rod, a hero to conservative activists, a rogue to others in both parties.
...
continued in link.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/us/politics/senate-budget-battle.html?hp&_r=1&
WASHINGTON — Republican Senator Ted Cruz’s 21-hour, 19-minute verbal assault on President Obama’s signature health care law ended Wednesday when the Senate voted 100-to-0 to break off debate and move to consider House legislation that Democrats plan to use to keep the government open next week.
Mr. Cruz’s marathon session — which began Tuesday afternoon, went straight through the night and ended at a predetermined noon deadline — did not win over senators from either party, and in fact Mr. Cruz even voted to open debate. After the vote, Senate Mike Lee, Republican of Utah and a Cruz ally, said Mr. Cruz never intended to oppose the motion to take up the bill, a position contradicted by his words and procedural motions for days before the tally.
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, greeted the conclusion of Mr. Cruz’s performance by declaring it “a big waste of time.”
The vote ended debate and the Senate will formally take up a bill the House passed that keeps the government open through Dec. 15 while gutting the president’s Affordable Care Act.
That legislation is precisely what Mr. Cruz, a Texas Republican, has clamored for, but he opposed taking it up, knowing that Democratic leaders would most likely have the votes to strip out the health care language and other Republican policies attached.
But with his indefatigable loquaciousness, Mr. Cruz managed to raise his own profile, anger some colleagues, thrill others, and elevate further the war over the health care law. The program begins enrolling the uninsured on Tuesday, the same day much of the government would shut down if the budget showdown were not resolved.
“We must all hang together or we most assuredly will all hang separately,” Mr. Cruz said in the 11th hour of his stand, quoting Benjamin Franklin and addressing his fellow Republican senators. He vowed to keep up his parliamentary battle to thwart “the train wreck, the nightmare, the disaster that is Obamacare.”
Just feet away from the Senate chamber, in the ornate Lyndon Baines Johnson Room, Senate Democratic women gathered with mothers and babies to castigate the effort and defend the health care law.
“They can talk for the rest of this term. They can stand there day and night. They can shut down government, and those who are colluders can stand with them,” fumed Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland. “We are going to stand with the people of the United States of America.”
Senator Debbie Stabenow, Democrat of Michigan, said Mr. Cruz’s performance “changes nothing. He’s gotten a lot of airtime, and that’s something I’m sure he’s pleased about.”
Wednesday’s vote is the first in a series that will culminate in a final vote on Sunday. Later this week, Mr. Reid will formally introduce a new version of the House stopgap-spending bill stripped of the health care language and shortened to keep the government operating from Oct. 1 to Nov. 15 rather than Dec. 15, as the House wanted. The biggest vote will most likely come this weekend, when Democrats must win over 60 senators to cut off debate on their leader’s bill.
If they succeed, Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio would have a matter of hours to decide whether to have the House vote on the Senate’s spending bill over the strenuous opposition of conservative activists or to add new Republican policy provisions to the spending bill and send it back to the Senate, a move sure to shutter the government.
Even many Republicans have encouraged House leaders to relent.
“There’s no other way,” said Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona. “As soon as we have 67 votes in the United States Senate, we’ll win. Unfortunately we’re not even close.”
For now, Mr. Cruz is basking in his moment.
His performance was not technically a filibuster. He merely held the floor until the clock ran out on the procedural vote, which he could not delay. But nine months into his first term in elective office, the Texan has become a lightning rod, a hero to conservative activists, a rogue to others in both parties.
...
continued in link.