Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said Tuesday that defunding Obamacare would be “highly unlikely,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
“Even if we were to not pass the continuing resolution (to fund the federal government), you’re not going to be able to defund Obamacare, absent of President Obama signing a law, which I think is highly unlikely,” Johnson said, as quoted by the Journal Sentinel. “So I appreciate the fact that they’ve raised the issue. But defunding Obamacare, with President Obama in the White House and Harry Reid in the Senate, I think is next to impossible.”
Other Republicans in the Senate, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), have discussed forcing a government shutdown in order to cut funding for the Affordable Care Act. The movement has little standing with GOP leadership, however: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) recently said that there aren’t enough votes in the Senate to pass a continuing resolution in order to defund the health care law.