A Republican senator in the vanguard of the quixotic effort to defund Obamacare — and risk a government shutdown — said Tuesday that there is no better time than the present to take aim at the new federal health care law.
Appearing at an event in Dallas, the latest stop in Heritage Action for America’s nine-city “Defund Obamacare” tour, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) assured the conservative faithful that they aren’t waging a losing battle.
“You’re here because now is the single best time we have to defund Obamacare,” Cruz said, according to The New York Times. “This is a fight we can win.”
Cruz and other conservative lawmakers insist that they will block any continuing resolution if it provides funding for Obamacare, a move that could trigger a government shutdown.
Republican leaders like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) have sought to splash cold water on the movement, contending that President Barack Obama will never sign such a bill and that a government shutdown will not halt the health care law.
But that logic hasn’t deterred conservative standarad-bearers like Cruz, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Heritage Foundation president Jim DeMint. At the first stop of the “Defund Obamacare” tour Monday in Fayetteville, Ark., DeMint, a former GOP senator, suggested that Obama may actually sign a bill that would effectively gut his signature piece of legislation.
