by Thomas Manning

On Friday, September 26^th 2013, the United States Senate passed a continuing resolution that would fund the federal government for the remainder of this year and also to provide funding for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The passage of the bill known as a stop gap or a continuing resolution provides the government money to continue running until November, when another debate would have to occur to keep the government running. The debate to fund the government was a particularly contentious one between the Democrats and the Republicans, along with a growing divide among the Republican Party that was highlighted by Ted Cruz’s near marathon speech on the Senate floor which occurred on Tuesday, September 24^th, and lasted 23 hours until Wednesday morning, September 25^th.

The divide among Republicans was highlighted almost immediately after Senator Ted Cruz finished his filibuster on Wednesday morning when his fellow senior Republican Senator from Arizona, John McCain immediately took Cruz aside and reprimanded him for comparisons’ that Senator Cruz made to politicians in America who were appeasing the healthcare law or not doing enough (in his opinion) to defund the law to the appeasers in England in the 1930s who appeased the Nazi’s primarily, British prime minister Neville Chamberlin who is one of the most well-known appeasers of the World war two era.” I think it’s wrong and I think it’s a disservice to those who stood up and shouted at the top of their lungs that we cannot appease and that we must act” McCain went onto say.

The divide in the party continued into the actual vote of the bill that would fund the healthcare law as the vote went mainly along party lines as the vote was 79-19 with a majority of the senior leadership in the republican senate voting to move the continuing resolution forward and the newer faces to the party, like Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT), who are considered to be the most conservative in the Republican Senate, voting against the measure to fund the healthcare law.

Senator Cruz went onto say during his debate, “A lot of members of this body (meaning the senate), have at least so far not showed up to battle”, a reference made by the senator referring to the more senior leaders in the Republican Party (like John McCain) who he feels have given up to easily when it comes to the fight against the Affordable Care act.