Republican leaders took to the Sunday shows to defend the GOP's refusal to pass a budget bill unless the Senate and Obama agree to delay Obamacare for one year.
Updated 10:52 AM
The government is headed for shutdown, and according to Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, it’s Senate Democrats—not House Republicans—that have taken the “absolutist” position.
Cruz told David Gregory on Meet the Press that his opposition is modeled after Texas Rep. Phil Graham’s fight against Hillary Clinton’s health care plan. “Rep. Phil Graham said, ‘This will pass over my cold, dead, political body,’ and that got other Republicans to say ‘what he said.’ The power of leadership can change debates,” Cruz said.
After hours of posturing, bluster, and closed-door meetings, the House voted to delay the Affordable Care Act for one year late Saturday night. Republicans took to the morning shows in droves to preemptively lay blame for the disruptions that will come October 1. Some 800,000 federal workers could be furloughed, and countless services will be interrupted.
Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Washington Republican who chairs the House Republican Conference, said Sunday on State of the Union that the House had done its job yesterday, and responsibility now lies with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has already flatly rejected the House measure.
“They’re the ones playing games,” she told CNN’s Candy Crowley when asked whether she was willing to shut down the government in order to force a “debate” that will not happen, Rogers said, “it’s really up to the Senate.”
Cruz also insisted that Republicans would not be responsible for a government shutdown Monday night over the law despite the fact that the Affordable Care Act has been upheld by the Supreme Court and that voters reelected President Obama despite the law’s ostensible unpopularity.
Appearing of Face the Nation, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul stuck to the GOP’s main message and blamed Obama and the Democrats. “The president’s the one saying I will shut down govt if you don’t give me what I want on Obamacare.”
There was no indication Sunday that Reid would call Senators back to The Hill to vote on the House bill. The Senate will likely table the bill when it meets Monday at 2 p.m. and return its previous bill—which does not include provisions to defund Obamacare—back to the House.
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