Cruz Fighting an Uphill Battle to Defund Obamacare
On the statewide speaking circuit, U.S. Sen Ted Cruz has made upending the federal Affordable Care Act sound simple: “The House of Representatives should pass a continuing resolution that funds the entire federal government, every bit of the federal government, except Obamacare,” he told a group of Houston realtors last month.
Now entering his third week on the road in a tour of primarily Texas cities, Cruz has only amplified his message, encouraging grassroots supporters to sign an online petition and contact their lawmakers to support this defunding approach. At one of his first stops in Kingwood in mid-August, the petition website DontFundObamacare.com had roughly 300,000 signatures. Today more than 1 million people have signed on.
But despite Cruz's fervor, it's not an idea many of his Republican colleagues are getting behind, including Cruz's Texas counterpart, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. In July, Cornyn, the Senate minority whip, withdrew his signature from a letter drafted by 11 U.S. House Republicans including Cruz demanding that Congress defund the health reform law as a condition for approving the rest of the budget.
“Among the opponents of the Affordable Care Act, there’s a growing sentiment that the defunding effort is fruitless,” said Edwin Park, vice president of health policy at the left-leaning Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
More at http://www.texastribune.org/2013/09/03/shifting-obamacare-attack-strategy/ .
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