Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Ted Cruz in San Antonio

The fight over Obamacare is far from over.

On Saturday, Oct. 19, Ted Cruz was the keynote speaker for the Texas Confederation of Republican Women’s Conference.

The event was held in the Grand Hyatt downtown in the early afternoon.

Cruz thanked the crowd for their support, opening his speech by saying, “After spending a month in Washington, it’s great to be back in America.”

Cruz gained recent notoriety for a 21-hour speech that was meant to delay the passage of a budgetary bill that funded the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Since then, his popularity has grown among Tea Party Republicans to a more than 60 percent approval rating, according to the Pew Research Center.

His speech focused on repealing Obamacare and energizing the conservative voter base in Texas.

“When this battle first started, no one gave a prayer that anything could be done about it,” said Cruz on the funding and implementation of the ACA. Cruz claimed that when nothing could be done to stop the ACA, he decided that he and conservative colleagues had to “take the issue to the people.”

He then explained that his bus tour during the spring and summer of this year was meant to turn the people against the ACA. The bus tour had previously been speculated to be a possible presidential campaign promotion.

The Texas Senator blamed the inability to unify Senate Republicans as the reason the federal government shut down and the ACA was inevitably funded. “We tried to stop the train wreck that is Obamacare,” said Cruz.

While Cruz compared the efforts of House Republicans to soldiers going into battle, he said, “Senate Republicans came in and bombed House Republicans. You can’t win a fight when cannons are pointed at your own guys.”

Cruz expressed his concerns that the ACA would lead to more government debt and public spending, providing no relief for the American people.

He claimed that there are four steps to repealing the ACA. “Together we need to elevate the national debate about the incredible harms Obamacare is causing,” said Cruz as the first step.

Cruz also claimed that the debate has been so penetrating that liberal TV shows such as Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show have satirized the Act.

The second step, Cruz claimed, was to organize the grassroots, increasing the participation of local volunteers. He encouraged Republican volunteers to work harder to elect Republicans in the coming 2014-midterm elections.

His third point was to take on Senate Democrats who he claimed were “a whole bunch of stupid folk.”

“Every single senate democrat voted against repealing an exception for senators under Obamacare,” said Cruz, encouraging the base to bar Democrats from elected office.

The exception is a one-year waiver on health benefit caps that were afforded to government offices and large corporations. However, members of congress will continue to qualify for insurance under the Small Business Health Options Programs (SHOP), which is available in the District of Columbia.

“As a result of that vote, there are going to be half dozen senate Democrats discovering health care elsewhere in 2014,” said Cruz as a result of voter accountability.

Demonstrating the power of the grassroots was his final step mentioned as his plan to repeal the ACA. “What this fight is about is that Washington D.C. isn’t listening to the American people… Nothing terrifies Washington more than what you all have done in the past few weeks. Liberty is never safer than when a politician is terrified,” claimed Cruz.

Going forward, Cruz encouraged Republicans to increase their volunteer efforts and hold their elected officials accountable.

“If we keep building momentum, eventually the U.S. Senate will listen to us,” claimed Cruz.

He ended his speech by saying, “We have to stop the ruling class from playing by a different set of rules. We can win with a touch of humor and telling real people’s stories.”

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