House and Senate Republicans and conservative leaders have rejected House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s move to use a procedural trick to defund Obamacare, while still funding the government. The legislative move gives Senate Majority Harry Reid the ability to automatically erase the language in the bill defunding ObamaCare and then authorize government spending to continue all programs, including ObamaCare.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said if House Republican Leadership goes forward with this strategy, “they will be complicit in the disaster that is Obamacare” and labeled the strategy “chicanery.”
“The American people are not surprised that politicians in Washington–of both parties–are afraid to take a stand,” Cruz said in a statement. “But another symbolic vote against Obamacare is meaningless. Obamacare is the biggest job killer in America, and people are hurting. House Republicans should pass a continuing resolution that funds government in its entirety–except Obamacare–and that explicitly prohibits spending any federal money, mandatory or discretionary, on Obamacare. They should not use any procedural chicanery to enable Harry Reid to circumvent that vote. If you oppose Obamacare, don’t fund Obamacare. Our elected leaders should listen to the American people.”
Cruz is hardly the only GOP member of Congress to criticize Cantor’s gambit. Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) said he will oppose it. “The House plan is a gimmick that leaves defunding Obamacare in the hands of the Democrat-controlled Senate, and I will not support it.,” Farenthold said in a statement. “I committed to my constituents to go all in on defunding the Obamacare trainwreck. The Senate has proven they cannot be trusted to do the right thing when it comes to the job-killing Unaffordable Care Act.”
Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), a candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia, also rejected Cantor’s plan. “I am thoroughly disappointed by the proposal presented to us by House leadership,” Broun said in a statement. “This is clearly just another legislative trick that will be easily defeated by the Senate, leaving us with little leverage when it comes to defunding Obamacare. Over the past month, my constituents in Georgia have expressed their utmost opposition to Obamacare and their desire for Congress to defund and dismantle it immediately. This complex legislative gimmick will not stop the coming trainwreck that is Obamacare, and I will refuse to vote for any spending bill or its accompanying rule that does not fully defund Obamacare. I strongly urge House leadership to reconsider this ineffective proposal.”
During his speech at Tea Party Patriots’ Exempt America rally, Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) said the House GOP leadership’s strategy would “make absolutely certain that the U.S. House will not – will not – defund Obamacare.”
“The Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader have announced a strategy in which there will be another vote that doesn’t count, so on Oct. 1, Obamacare will be funded,” Huelskamp said.
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) ripped Cantor’s ploy in his Exempt America rally speech too. “We can’t allow a rule to be written that will allow the rug to be ripped out from underneath us,” King said. “We’ve got to defund it now.”
Other members and their offices have told Breitbart News, too, throughout Tuesday that they will not be supporting Cantor’s move here.
Conservative leader groups have come out against the ploy, too. The Club For Growth, a powerhouse in GOP primary elections, announced it will be scoring the vote on Cantor’s rule and his CR that does not actually defund Obamacare as a “key vote” in determining their ratings of members of Congress. And other conservative groups are mobilizing behind the scenes now to rip Cantor’s plan apart.
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