Conservative pundit Sean Hannity was gushing Wednesday when two of the leaders in the movement to defund the Affordable Care Act stopped by his Fox News Channel program.
With Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT) on the set, Hannity couldn’t contain his glee.
“Air high five,” Hannity said while gesturing toward the lawmakers. “It’s more like an air kiss. How are you doing? Good to see you.”
Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said Wednesday that the House will vote on a continuing resolution to defund the health care law and risk a government shutdown. The measure, which has no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate let alone being signed into law by President Barack Obama, was widely viewed as a way for GOP House leadership to placate their conservative base. Top Republicans like Karl Rove have decried the defunding effort and argued that it will backfire politically on the party.
But Lee commended Boehner for taking up the quixotic legislation.
“I want to applaud House Speaker John Boehner who did the courageous thing today and stood with the American people. We now need to stand with him and with the people and defund this law,” he told Hannity, who agreed but noted that Boehner and other leaders previously signaled opposition to defunding the Affordable Care Act.
“I applaud him. But I will tell you this, there was a very different tune that they were playing last week in the House leadership,” Hannity said. “And it was really the people in this country that I would say forced them to change position positions, because they came up with that parliamentary maneuver last week which would defund Obamacare and fund it at the same time, so.”
The full interview is available here.
