"Cruz, along with every other Republican senator that accompanied him on the floor during his speech, voted in favor of invoking cloture on the motion to proceed.
This sounds confusing — after all, Cruz just spent nearly an entire day railing against passage of the bill. But this was Cruz's plan all along. He opposes invoking cloture to end debate on the bill — that vote will come either Friday or Saturday.
Here's what Cruz said on the Senate floor Tuesday (emphasis added):
"The central vote the Senate will take on this fight will not occur today and it will not occur tomorrow. The first vote we are going to take on this is a vote on what is called cloture on the motion to proceed. Very few people not on this floor have any idea what that means and even, I suspect, a fair number of people on this floor are not quite sure what that means. That will simply be a vote whether to take up this bill and to begin debating this bill. I expect that vote to pass overwhelmingly, if not unanimously. Everyone agrees we ought to take this up, we ought to start this conversation.
The next vote we take will occur on Friday or Saturday and it will be on what is called cloture on the bill. That is the vote that matters. Cloture on the bill, the vote Friday or Saturday, is the vote that matters."
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Government Shutdown, Ted Cruz And Obamacare: Where Senate Goes Now - Business Insider