0 washington. well, the clock is ticking. the government shuts down in just eight days unless congress agrees on a bill to fund federal agencies. on friday, the house passed a measure to keep the government going until mid-december but also cut off funding for obama care and, as you just heard, majority leader harry reid says that it done in the senate. joining me is senator ted cruz. senator, welcome back to "fox news sunday." >> thank you, chris. good to be with you today. >> we just played a chip, you saying that you will do everything you can to block whatever you can to block a bill that you actually support which would fund the government but defund obama care. so how are you going to get other republican senators on board to block a bill that you support? >> well, let's be clear, last week's vote was a tremendous victory. just a few weeks ago, no pundit in washington thought it was possible. we would see the vote we saw on friday. last week, the house of representatives voted to defund obama care and now next week, as you note, the fight moves to the senate and i think next week is a time for party unity. i think next week all senate republicans, i hope, should come together and support the house bill. in my view, senate republicans should stand united to stop harry reid from changing the house bill and, in particular, from inserting the funding from obama care with 5 1 votes, whether he can just use democrats to put obama care back. we can stop harry reid from doing that. >> i'm confused. are you going to block consideration of the bill? basically, the first issue is, are you going to allow consideration of the bill? and you can filibuster that. after you lose that, then a simple majority could eliminate obama care. are you going to allow consideration of the bill, have an up or down vote on defunding obama care or are you going to block them from even taking up a bill which you support? >> well, the first order of business is going to ask harry reid whether he will allow a 60-vote threshold. we have a lot of amendments that are subject to 60-vote thresholds. in all likelihood he's going to say no because he wants to use brute force exactly the same way he passed the bill three years ago. if he does that, we have the tool that we always use when the majority leader is abusing his power, which is we can deny. we will not allow you to add the funding back with obama care with just 51 votes. >> sir, if i may, it's senate rule it22 and it says after you take cloature that you can pass a bill by minimum majority. that's a rule. >> chris, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. there is that rule but there's another rule that says you need 60 votes to get cloture. because the my nortif the minor going to run over the majority with a train, the minority has a responsibility to stop that. and i'm going to do this on a 51 vote threshold and it should be an easy way for them to stand united and any vote for cloture to allow harry reid to add funding for obama care with just a 51-vote cloture and i think they are going to stand side by side with speaker bone nehner. >> a couple of questions. first of all, you need 41 votes. you're one vote. you need 40 other republican senators to go with you to block consideration at the house bill and the senate. how many votes do you have right now, senator? >> well, we don't know right now and this week we'll determine. look, this has been a fast-moving target. just a few weeks ago we didn't have the votes needed in the house or in the senate and my view all along was this was going to be multiple stages. stage one was unify the american people. we've seen nearly 1.6 million americans sign a national petition at dontfundit.com. stage three is next week where senate republicans -- it's now our turn to unify, stand together with house republicans and then the next step, look, this may end up going back to the house and i hope and fully believe the house will continue the fight and if we take this to the american people, i believe the next step after that is starting to get red state democrats, starting to get, if you're a mark pryor or a mary landrieu and you start to get 50,000 calls from your constituents, it changes it. >> senator, here's the question that everyone, on both sides is asking in washington, which is, what is your end game? let's say that you block consideration of any bill in the senate or let's say that you lose and the bill goes into the senate and they take out obama care and send it back to the house? what's your end game because the government is going to shut down a week from monday. >> well, i don't want the government to shut down. the american people don't want the american people to shut down and i don't think harry reid or president obama should shut down the government. look, if that happens, if harry reid kills this bill in the senate, the house should hold its ground and should begin passing smaller continuing resolutions one department at a time and it should start with focused on the military. fund the military, send it over. let's see if harry reid is willing to shut down the military just because he wants to force obama care on the american people. i think that would be a very perilous decision for harry reid to make and the house can keep driving this. look, the house is the only body where republicans have a majority. the house has to lead on this. health care. chris, let me suggest the whole reason why is because we've been standing up leading the fight to defund obama care. voters have learned enough talk from washington, stand up and do it and, listen, all you have to do is get out of washington, d.c., and go listen to the american people. you talk to people that are struggling for jobs and finding their hours forcibly reduced to 29 hours a week. by the way, the people who are hurting, i hear from my constituents every single day, women with pre-existing conditions who are losing their health care because of obama care. >> senator, i hate to interrupt. we're almost out of time. i want to ask you one direct question. you have a lot of valid criticisms over obama care. we're going to ask senator mccaskill about that. if this ping-pongs back to the house and it's a question of whether keep obama care or shut down the government, what's your position? keep the government going or keep fighting about obama care? >> i believe we should stand our ground and i don't think harry reid and barack obama should shut down the federal government. look, the house voted last week to fund the federal government. if harry reid kills that, harry reid is response ible for shuttg down the government. he should listen to the american people. don't fund obama care because it's hurting the american people. it's not working. that's why the unions want out. that's why senate democrats want out, because it's not working. >> senator, we're going to talk about that with senator mccaskill in the next segment. thank you for joining us today and we'll stay on top of the battle of the budget. should be interesting. >> thank you, chris. up next, syria submits an initial inventory of its chemical weapons stockpile. and then, senator claire mccaskill on syria and the government shutdown and the massacre at the washington navy yard. stay tuned. 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