Ted Cruz, conservative Tea Party senator, ends marathon speech against Obamacare Cruz ends marathon speech US Republican Senator Ted Cruz completes a 21-hour speech opposing Obama's health care law. PT1M16S http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2uf08 620 349 September 26, 2013 - 8:29AM Washington: Republican Senator Ted Cruz has ended a marathon Senate speech opposing President Barack Obama's health care law after talking for 21 hours, 19 minutes. The Tea Party conservative stopped speaking at noon Wednesday, sitting down to yield the floor. The Texas freshman began talking Tuesday afternoon, seeking the urge defunding of the three-year-old health system overhaul. Fellow conservatives helped by making occasional remarks. I will confess, as we sit here a little bit before 7 am, I'm a little bit tired Cruz had virtually no chance of prevailing. US Senator Ted Cruz, denounces "Obamacare" as he speaks on the Senate floor on Capitol Hill in Washington during his marathon effort. The Senate debated the House bill defunding the health care law while preventing a government shutdown on Tuesday. Cruz wanted to derail it because Senate Democrats have the votes to remove the health care provision before sending the bill back to the House. Many Republicans opposed Cruz's effort, fearing their party might be blamed if the government closes. Republican Senator Ted Cruz slogged into the second day of his marathon attack on Obamacare from the Senate floor on Wednesday, showing almost no signs of relenting after speaking for more than 17 hours. Standing in a nearly empty Senate chamber, Cruz made his case to deny funding to implement President Barack Obama's landmark overhaul of the US healthcare system, arguing that it is hurting the economy. "I will confess, as we sit here a little bit before 7 am, I'm a little bit tired," the Texas senator said in the waning hours of his effort on the Senate floor. But Cruz still found the energy to compare the healthcare law to the villain in the "Friday the 13th" horror films. "Obamacare is the biggest job-killer in this country and when Jason put on his hockey mask and swung that machete, boy there was carnage like nothing else," Cruz said. On October 1, a major component of Obamacare goes into effect as individuals are allowed to begin signing up for health insurance under the government-backed program. October 1 also is the start of the government's new fiscal year. Having failed to pass the 12 regular appropriations bills that fund government activities in fiscal 2014, Congress is now in the uncomfortable situation of either approving a temporary emergency spending bill or forcing widespread shutdowns of federal agencies. Cruz's 45 Republican colleagues in the Senate also oppose Obamacare, arguing that burdensome requirements are encouraging employers to reduce their workforce. But most of them have shunned Cruz's desire to hold up government funding - thus risking a shutdown of federal agencies next Tuesday - in an attempt to gut the law. Elected last November, the firebrand of the conservative Tea Party movement at times strides through the Capitol in cowboy boots. But on Wednesday morning, his feet were clad in tennis shoes. In black, they matched his suit. "Obamacare isn't working," the Texas Republican said in between stories about the struggles of his Cuban immigrant father and reciting Doctor Seuss verse. A professed carnivore, he recounted the tribulations of Christmas dinner with his future wife's vegetarian family. What a scoundrel I am Only a dozen or so of the chamber's 100 senators showed up for any of Cruz's marathon, but the televised debate is sure to boost the profile of this likely 2016 presidential candidate. Cruz began talking at 2:41 pm on Tuesday. His performance had the look of a filibuster, a procedural hurdle used to block legislation. Except in this case, it won't. Under Senate rules, Cruz must yield the floor by noon on Wednesday for a procedural vote that will start the Senate toward passage of the bill to keep government agencies funded through November 15 - including Obamacare money. In the early hours of Wednesday, Cruz was joined on the Senate floor only by Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah, who provided him with short breaks. Lee and Cruz spent the summer whipping up conservative anger against the healthcare law. As dawn approached, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, also a Tea Party conservative, took the lectern, giving Cruz a break, which he used to stretch with knee bends in the chamber. Polls show most Americans oppose the health care law despite its goals of providing healthcare coverage to millions of uninsured people, but even more oppose a government shutdown. Early in his effort on Tuesday, Cruz talked about his father "flippin' pancakes," making "green eggs and ham," "the travesty of Obamacare," and, proudly, about his unpopularity among many fellow Republicans. "I now pick up the newspaper to learn what a scoundrel I am" practically every day, he said. "He is using the floor to promote himself," Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill said Wednesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." AP, Reuters