Ted Cruz's Obamacare All-Nighter Ends After 21 Hours Sen. Ted Cruz's all-night talk-a-thon on the need to defund Obamacare finally ended today, clocking in at 21 hours and 19 minutes. "This was all about elevating the debate in the public and giving the American people the chance to speak," Cruz told ABC News after his marathon speech. At this point, the debate is in the hands of the American people. After starting at 2:41 p.m. Tuesday, Cruz wrapped up at noon today when the Senate day adjourned. Reid had offered to allow the Texas Republican senator to continue speaking until 1 p.m., but Cruz declined the offer because he wanted to be granted unlimited time to speak. "Although I am weary, there is still at least strength in my legs to stand a little longer," Cruz said. The Senate cleared its first procedural vote to consider the continuing resolution today with a vote of 100-0. Cruz, who voted in favor of cloture on the motion to proceed today, is urging his Republican colleagues to vote against cloture (or ending debate) on the actual spending measure, a vote that will likely occur Friday. Cruz pulled the all-nighter in the U.S. Senate as he advocated for the defunding of Obamacare into the wee hours of the morning. Wearing black tennis shoes for comfort, the senator said on the Senate floor, "I will say standing here after 14 hours, standing on your feet, there's sometimes some pain, sometimes some fatigue that is involved. There's far more pain involved in rolling over, far more pain in hiding in the shadows, far more pain in not standing for principle, not standing for the good, not standing for integrity. Senate rules required Cruz, 42, to stand throughout his speech but allowed him to yield to questions from other senators. But Cruz's overnight speech was technically not a filibuster and won't do much to delay or prevent the votes. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who was expected to introduce an amendment at some point that would restore the funding of Obamacare to the continuing resolution, tweeted after Cruz's speech ended: Cruz used his marathon session to make the case for why the Affordable Care Act should be defunded in the continuing resolution. But at times, his speech turned playful as he read his daughters a bedtime story through C-SPAN.