Cruz announces plan B for defunding Obamacare: 'Shut down the military'

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Sunday warned Senate Republicans that refusing to filibuster a bill that defunds President Barack Obama's health care reform law "is a vote for Obamacare," and he also advised House Republicans to "shut down the military" if they had to.

After a summer of insisting that Republicans should pass a budget that would defund Obamacare or shut down the government if the president refused to sign it, Cruz got exactly what he wanted last week. House Republicans rallied behind a continuing resolution that stripped funding from the Affordable Care Act, but Senate Democrats were expected to add funding back or refuse to pass the measure.

In a Sunday interview, Cruz told Fox News host Chris Wallace that Senate Republicans should stand together and refuse to vote for cloture by filibustering if Democrats added Obamacare funding to the bill.

"Any vote for cloture, any vote to allow Harry Reid to add funding to Obamacare with just a 51-vote threshold, a vote for cloture is a vote for Obamacare," Cruz insisted. "And I think Senate Republicans are going to stand side-by-side with Speaker [John] Boehner and House Republicans, listening to the people and stopping this train wreck that is Obamacare."

Wallace pressed Cruz on his "end game" if Senate Democrats did pass a budget with funding for the health care law and sent it back to the House.

"Because the government is going to shut down a week from Monday," the Fox News host pointed out.

"If Harry Reid kills the bill in the Senate, the House should hold its ground, and should begin passing smaller continuing resolutions, one department at a time," Cruz explained. "It should start with a continuing resolution focused on the military."

"Send it over, see if Harry Reid is willing to shut down the military," he quipped.

Watch the video below from Fox News' Fox News Sunday, broadcast Sept. 22, 2013.