Sen. Ted Cruz believes Republicans can defund 'Obamacare' if they stand together. Ted Cruz: D.C. Republicans 'scared'

Sen. Ted Cruz believes Republicans can defund “Obamacare” if they stand together, but he said “scared” Republicans are standing in the way.

“What I can tell you is there are a lot of Republicans in Washington who are scared. They’re scared of being beaten up politically,” Cruz (R-Texas) told Glenn Beck on TheBlaze radio show Monday.


Cruz said there are too many members of the GOP that want to vote against Obamacare symbolically, but don’t actually want to follow through.

( QUIZ: Do you know Ted Cruz?)

“I’ve been astonished by how many Republicans in Washington want a fig leaf … but they don’t actually want to succeed,” Cruz told Beck.

As long as Republicans don’t cave, Cruz said, they can win the fight, a theme he reiterated in other media appearances Monday.

“If we stand together, we can win this fight. If we don’t surrender, as Republicans are so good at, it’s guaranteed we will not win this fight,” Cruz said on “America Live” on Fox News on Monday afternoon.

( PHOTOS: Key quotes from Ted Cruz)

Saying there are 63 days left to gut President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, Cruz said he hoped his Republican colleagues would join him and others like Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in not funding a continuing resolution that gives “one cent” to the president’s health care program.

Beck took issue with Cruz mentioning Rubio, saying he no longer trusts the Florida senator after he worked on an immigration compromise in the Senate.

“I don’t trust this guy, because I think this guy has gotten into bed with some of the progressive Republicans himself,” Beck said. “I hope that the people of Florida punish Marco Rubio by sending him home”

But Cruz defended Rubio as an ally on this issue.

“I understand your frustrations,” Cruz told Beck. “As you know I disagreed vociferously with Marco on the Gang of Eight immigration bill. … I can tell you that on the fight to defund Obamacare, Marco has been with us from the beginning.”

Also Monday morning, Cruz rejected interparty squabbles while pushing his anti-Obamacare fight on another radio show. Speaking with radio host Andrea Tantaros, Cruz brushed off criticism from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie of libertarians in the GOP.

“Gov. Christie is certainly entitled to his opinions and he does not seem shy about sharing those,” Cruz said, according to audio provided by The Right Scoop. “I think most people don’t care. They don’t really care about petty, partisan squabbles between politicians. What people are much more interested in is how we turn this country around.”

Cruz also dodged a question about any potential 2016 presidential ambitions, especially after he won a straw poll at the Western Conservative Summit in Colorado over the weekend.

“You know, Shannon, my focus is entirely on the Senate, and I’ll tell you, that very kind outcome in the straw poll I think is reflective of what grassroots conservatives are feeling across the country, which is a frustration with Washington politicians,” Cruz told Fox News host Shannon Bream.