A senator read Green Eggs and Ham to try to block the health care law

On the floor of the United States Senate, Texas Senator Ted Cruz opened the book Green Eggs and Ham and began to read aloud.

"Do you like green eggs and ham?" he asked. "I do not like them, Sam-I-Am," he continued. "Would you like them here or there? I would not like them here or there. I would not like them anywhere."

He was not holding a story hour. In 2015, Cruz read from the book on the Senate floor to try to stop the federal health care law. He could do it because the Senate, unlike the House of Representatives, has no Rules Committee, and a senator can talk as long as he likes.

In the House, every bill debated by the full chamber must first go through the Rules Committee. That group sets the terms of debate, including how much time each side gets, which changes to the bill are allowed, and when votes happen. Andy Wilson, described by Nick Capodice as "a former staffer on Capitol Hill," explains that "generally, that's all controlled by the Speaker of the House."

The Senate has no such gatekeeper for debate. Once senators get the floor, they can keep it by talking, which turns talking itself into a way to stall action on a bill.

Eleanor Powell, a political scientist, says that kind of delay has a name. A filibuster, she says, is "just any type of delay or obstruction that any individual senator can engage in."

It is not only the old style of talking on the floor. Today, Powell explains, a senator can simply declare an intent to filibuster. Supporters of the bill must then find 60 votes to end debate through a procedure called cloture, or give up. Getting 60 votes is hard, so the threat alone can stall a bill.

Cruz chose the old style and read, "I do not like green eggs and ham." It did not work. The law stayed in place.