CORRECTED-In nearly empty U.S. Senate, Ted Cruz talks and talks and talks

September 24, 2013|Reuters

(Corrects fourth paragraph to reflect that Cruz read entire
Seuss rhyme rather than part)

By Fred Barbash

WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - It was precisely eight
o'clock Tuesday night and the Senate chamber was nearly empty
when Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz started reading "Green
Eggs and Ham," aloud.

Harvard Law School graduate had been talking for five hours,
with many more promised as part of an effort to block funding
for President Barack Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act, known as Obamacare.

watching him on TV and needed their bedtime story.

Hopefully they went to sleep before Cruz segued from "Sam I
some applicability to the Obamacare bill."

Just how it applied to Obamacare was never made very clear.

But clarity fades in a filibuster, and the talker has to
keep on talking or reading.

Strom Thurmond, the late Senator from South Carolina, had
read the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and
President George Washington's Farewell address during his fabled
1957 filibuster to block civil rights legislation. That one
lasted 24 hours and 18 minutes, still the record.

Alfonse D'Amato, then Senator from New York, resorted to the
phone book during his filibuster, an attempt to delay a 1986
military spending bill.

Filibusters are experiencing a revival. Rand Paul of
Kentucky staged one earlier this year. Wendy Davis filibustered
in the Texas State Senate for 11 hours to block an abortion

Technically, the Cruz talkathon was not a filibuster. While
the legislation at issue was a Republican measure to keep the
government open and Obamacare closed, the Senate was actually
adjourned and the members had already decided not to let Cruz or
anyone else block a vote.

His talking would have no impact on the outcome of the
debate and would not go down in history as a filibuster.

It did have some history-making possibilities, however.

Three potential 2016 Republican presidential contenders
assisted in the talkathon, Senators Marco Rubio of Florida,
Paul of Kentucky and Cruz.

thought I'd come down and make sure you have comfortable shoes

Paul and Rubio played crucial roles, asking Cruz lengthy
questions, which under Senate rules allowed him to take short
breaks without "yielding the floor" that would end the

Thanks to Paul and Rubio and a few other colleagues, Cruz
pockets, sometimes with his arms folded at his chest.

Cruz may also be unpopular among his colleagues in the
Senate, a distinction he acknowledged repeatedly Tuesday night,
with references to the "withering criticisms" he had received
him by "Senate staffers running to newspapers.

said, was a "small price" to pay.

(Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Richard Cowan and
David Lawder; Editing by Ken Wills)