Cruz: It was a 'remarkable victory' until Senate Republicans caved on the shutdown

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Wednesday blasted members of his own party after he said that they wasted a "remarkable victory" by making a deal with Democrats to re-open the government and avert a default on U.S. debt by raising the nation's credit limit.

At the same time Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was on the Senate floor telling Republicans that it was time to move on, Cruz was elsewhere in the Capitol lashing out at his colleagues.

As CNN's Dana Bash pointed out to Cruz, he had nothing to show for his efforts -- President Barack Obama's health care reform law had not been defunded nor delayed -- after 16 days of a government shutdown.

Cruz, however, said that he disagreed: "Months ago, when the effort to defund Obamacare began, official Washington scoffed, they scoffed that the American people would rise up, they scoffed that the House of Representatives would do anything and they scoffed that the Senate would do anything."

"We saw the House of Representatives take a courageous stand, listening to the American people, that everyone in official Washington just weeks earlier said would never happen," he continued. "And that was a remarkable victory, to see the House engage in a profile in courage."

"Unfortunately, the Senate chose not to follow the House. And in particular, we saw real division among Senate Republicans. That was unfortunate. I would point out that had Senate Republicans united and supported House Republicans, the outcome of this, I believe, would have been very, very different."

Watch this video from MSNBC, broadcast Oct. 16, 2013.