Issue 173 Ted Cruz September 30, 2013

Have you heard of the name Texas Senator Ted Cruz? Well he is the man that is leading the fight to defund the affordable care act, better known as Obama care. He recently spoke on Tuesday into Wednesday for a full 21 hours in a filibuster on the Senate floor. He beat out Senator Rand Paul's filibuster by a whole 10 hours. By why did he do it? What was the point of blocking all progress in the Senate?

The Reason: Senator Cruz wanted to bring attention back to an issue that some people seem to have either forgotten or have given up on. That issue of course is Obama care. In the recent budget legislation there is a provision that will defund Obama care completely and thus end its current and future harm to the United States and our health care system. It has already been shown that about sixty plus percent of Americans want it gone. So Cruz felt that the filibuster will force attention back on to the issue so that it would make it harder for the Democrats and Republicans to vote against it. Basically he wanted them to know that the American people will be watching.

Current effects of Obama Care: At this point many people have already seen a rise in health insurance coasts with some experiencing a 20 to 60 percent increase in premiums. Some families are expected to see a whole $7,000 increase to their yearly health care costs. There have been insurance blackouts which is where insurance companies refuse to cover anyone in a given area. This has already occurred in Louisiana and a few other states. Co-pays for doctor visits and some medications have increased. At current the law stipulates that if a doctor gives too many tests or too little number of tests the doctor will be penalized financially even if the cause of the ailment has already been found on the first test. In addition, the law taxes medical devices including their use. As such the price of health care is rising even higher. What else is in Obama care has yet to be seen as the legislation is so long and the regulations (some of which are still being written) are so big that no one knows how badly our health care system will be affected. All we know is that the most expensive health care in the world is only going to go up in cost. This is what Ted Cruz wishes to stop.

Party Reaction: The Democrats do not have to do anything to stop Senator Cruz. They don't have to because the Republican Party leadership is annoyed with the way Senator Cruz is handling the Obama care situation. Cruz has as of now become a house hold name, and the party leadership doesn’t like that because it gives him credibility if he was to run for a higher office. Let us not forget that Cruz has only been a Senator for eight months and there is a seniority system in congress. Basically, the party leaders are supposed to tell you to jump and you say "how high?" Cruz and other Senators like Rand Paul prefer to ignore such childishness. But this has not stopped the Republican leadership from bashing Cruz every chance they get.

Conclusion: It is simple, if you want Obama care gone melt the phones in Washington D.C. Protest your congressmen and Senators declaring that if you do not vote in favor of defunding Obama care then we are voting you out. This also means you will stand behind Ted Cruz who at current still holds onto the reason he went into office, to do the right thing. The party leadership on both sides is all about control and maintaining power. But if we vote the losers out and replace them with more Rand Paul's and Ted Cruz's we may even stand a chance of forcing term limits on Congress. So let us get behind reform that gets the government monkey off our backs. Let's support Ted Cruz and his efforts to stop Obama care.