Default Prevention Act of 2013--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the deal that the Senate is getting ready to vote on. This is a terrible deal. This deal embodies everything about the Washington establishment that frustrates the American people. This deal kicks the can down the road. It allows yet more debt, more deficits, more spending, and it does absolutely nothing to provide relief for the millions of Americans who are hurting because of ObamaCare.

To all the young people who are coming out of school right now and can't find a job because of ObamaCare, this deal does nothing for them. To all of the single moms who are struggling and being forced into part-time work, trying to feed their kids on 29 hours a week because of ObamaCare, this deal does nothing for them. To all of the hard-working families who are getting massive premium increases from their health insurance companies right now and trying to figure out how they are going to make ends meet with health insurance costs going up 200 to 300 percent because of ObamaCare, this deal does nothing for them. To all of the seniors and all the people with disabilities who are getting notifications in the mail right now telling them they are losing their health insurance because of ObamaCare, this deal does nothing for them.

This fight was always about the American people who are hurting because of ObamaCare, and unfortunately today the Senate is saying: You don't have a voice in Washington.

This is a terrible deal. I urge my colleagues to oppose it.

None of us should be surprised that when the Senate votes, this deal is going to pass, and it is going to pass by a big margin. None of us should be surprised, but the outcome could have been different.

I ask the Presiding Officer to imagine a different world. We saw in the last 2 months millions of Americans rise up, sign a national petition, light up the phones to the Capitol, and speak up against the enormous harms ObamaCare is visiting upon them. We saw the House of Representatives stand with courage and listen to the American people.

I ask the Presiding Officer to imagine a world in which Senate Republicans united to support House Republicans. Imagine that one piece being different from what we saw. Imagine, after the House Republicans stood together with the American people, if all 46 Senate Republicans had stood together and said: We are united against the train wreck that is ObamaCare. We are united with the American people that if President Obama is going to give an exemption for big business and for Members of Congress, the American people deserve that very same exemption.

I want you to imagine if Senate Republicans stood together and simply supported House Republicans and the American people. I want the Presiding Officer to imagine what would have happened if all 46 Senate Republicans had united and gone together and said: The House of Representatives has passed a bill funding the VA. We should fund the VA.

The majority leader of the Senate refused to allow the Senate to even vote to fund the VA. I want you to imagine all 46 Senate Republicans, if we had stood together and simply supported the House Republicans in saying the House of Representatives has voted to reopen our national parks, to reopen our war memorials, and the majority leader of the Senate refused to allow the Senate to even vote.

I want my colleagues to imagine simply that Senate Republicans stood together and said: We support the House Republicans in standing with the American people. If that had happened, I believe this result would have been very different.

It is heartbreaking to the American people that Senate Republicans divided as they did and decided to direct their criticism, direct their attention, direct their cannon fire at House Republicans and at those standing with the American people. Yet, at the same time, to the millions of Americans who rose up in the last couple of months, I want to give a word of encouragement--a word of encouragement about the path forward.

A couple of months ago the Washington establishment scoffed at the notion that the American people might rise up. That was viewed as silly, parochial, couldn't happen. A couple of months ago the Washington establishment scoffed at the notion that the House of Representatives would stand strong saying: We should fund every bit of the Federal Government, but we shouldn't fund ObamaCare. Yet what we have seen in the last 2 months has been extraordinary. Millions of Americans are speaking in overwhelming numbers saying ObamaCare isn't working. The unions are jumping ship. Democratic Members of the Senate and the House went to the President and said: We want to be exempted from ObamaCare. This law isn't working. And it is worth reflecting on how extraordinary it is to see the American people rise up in such incredible numbers and to see the House of Representatives engage in what I consider to be a profile in courage, standing with the American people.

Now, a path forward--the way we are going to stop ObamaCare, the way we are going to stop the suffering, the harms being visited on millions of Americans--is the path we have seen these past couple of months--the American people rising up. The answers are not going to come from Washington. Washington is broken. But the answers are going to come from the American people.

So today I am encouraged. I am encouraged by the millions of Americans who want to get back to our free market principles, get back to the Constitution, and stop this train wreck of a law that is the biggest job killer in this country, that is hurting people all across the country. It is sad that today the Senate is telling people all across this country who are struggling, who are trying to provide for their kids, and who are getting notifications in the mail that their health care has been dropped--maybe a person has an elderly parent and that health care policy is providing for the family. Maybe people have children facing debilitating diseases. Yet they are getting a notification in the mail that their health insurance has been dropped because of ObamaCare. It is sad that the Senate says we will do nothing to answer their plight. We created their plight, but we will do nothing. It is sad that when we have James Hoffa, the president of the Teamsters, saying ObamaCare is destroying the health care of millions of working men and women in this country and the families who depend upon them, that the Senate says: We are closed for business. The Washington establishment has exempted itself, so the problems, the suffering of working America is not the concern of the Washington establishment. That is sad.

But at the same time, I am optimistic. I am inspired by the millions of Americans who have risen. And if the American people continue to rise up, I am confident that in time the Senate will follow the lead of the House of Representatives and listen to the American people. That is our job. That is our responsibility.

This is a terrible deal today. It is a terrible deal for the American people. At the same time, the path forward--if the American people continue to rise up, we are going to turn this around. We are going to restore jobs. We are going to restore economic growth. We are going to restore the ability of people who are struggling to climb the economic ladder and to achieve the American dream, and we are going to stop the No. 1 job killer in this country; that is, ObamaCare.

I rise in opposition to this deal that doesn't serve the best interests of the men and women each of us represent.

I yield the floor.

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