Mitt Romney said Friday that he disagrees “tactically” with Republicans in Washington who are using the threat of a government shutdown to bolster their effort to defund Obamacare.
“We’re more effective tactically not to use a shutdown of some kind to pursue the … anti-Obamacare objective. I don’t think that will be as effective,” the 2012 GOP presidential nominee told CNN.
Romney said it would be more practical to seek a one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act.
“I think there’s a better way of getting rid of Obamacare – my own view – and that is, one, delaying it by at least a year. That was Senator (Joe) Manchin’s idea, the Democrats’ idea,” Romney said.
Manchin said Thursday that he would support delaying the individual mandate by one year. The Senate passed a continuing resolution Friday that was free of any defunding legislation, sending the bill back to the House where its fate is uncertain. The fiscal year deadline is set for Monday at midnight, at which time the federal government is due to run out of money.
Romney spoke out against a government shutdown last month at a GOP fundraiser, warning that it could cost his part at the polls. Throughout the 2012 campaign, Romney vowed to repeal Obamacare on day one in the White House.
But Jim DeMint, the president of the Heritage Foundation and one of the leaders of the defunding movement, argued in a story published this week that Romney’s presence at the top of the ticket kept Republicans from truly campaigning against the law. As governor of Massachusetts, Romney signed a health care law that served as a model for the Affordable Care Act.
