In his fiery speech that lasted more than 20 minutes, Bennet derided Republican allegations that Democrats favor open borders as "gibberish" and ripped the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus as a "minority of tyrants" who have wielded a veto over legislation passed by the Senate.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet excoriated U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in an impassioned speech on the Senate floor Thursday, dismissing as "crocodile tears" the Texas Republican's attempt to pay Coast Guard members while leaving the rest of the partial federal government shutdown in effect.

“I have worked very hard over the years to work in a bipartisan way with the presiding officer, with my Republican colleagues, but these crocodile tears that the senator from Texas is crying for first responders are too hard for me to take,” said the typically mild-mannered Colorado Democrat after Cruz described the Republican legislation.

“Because when the senator from Texas shut this government down, my state was flooded. It was underwater. People were killed. People’s houses were destroyed. Their small businesses were ruined forever," Bennet said, his voice rising.

Bennet was referring to the 2013 government shutdown spearheaded by Cruz and other Republicans in an attempt to block implementation of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

That shutdown, which lasted 16 days, took place in the aftermath of devastating flooding in northern Colorado that left eight dead.

Read more at Colorado Politics.