Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said that he is not “house-trained” like the media wants him to be on various issues, including repealing Obamacare.
“There a lot of Democrats and folks in the media who like their Republicans timid [and] house-trained,” Cruz said on Sean Hannity’s radio program Thursday, where he praised Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s efforts to defund Obamacare and vowed to continue fighting against the health care law himself.
Cruz, who was described by Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as “the very junior senator from Texas,” is currently spearheading the Defund Obamacare Act of 2013, which has little chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate. Georgia Republican Rep. Tom Graves introduced the bill in the House, marking the fourth time that Graves has introduced the Defund Obamacare Act. Graves’ first three attempts to pass the bill, the most recent of which came in March, all failed.
Nevertheless, Cruz’s rhetoric and occasional social media stunts, such as tweeting a photograph of a “RIP IRS” license plate in reference to the IRS targeting scandal, is making him one of the most visible faces of anti-Obama sentiment on Capitol Hill.
Cruz said that President Barack Obama’s recent decision to delay Obamacare’s employer mandate, which forces companies with more than 50 workers to provide health insurance or else pay fines until January 2015, is a political move by the president.
“The administration’s recent announcement to delay the onerous and unpopular employer mandate until after the 2014 election… confirms what has been obvious from the start — this law is a colossal mistake,” Cruz said in a statement promoting the Defund Obamacare Act.
Cruz gained ground in a 2016 Republican presidential primary poll released by Public Policy Polling Thursday. Cruz registered at 12 percent in the poll, putting him just one point behind former Gov. Jeb Bush, Rep. Paul Ryan and Gov. Chris Christie, and four points behind Sen. Rand Paul.