Sen. Mike Lee’s effort to deny funding to Obamacare is just the latest in a long string of similar moves.
Stan Collender writes he was present for the very first call to defund Obamacare way back in 2011. He was a speaker at the very first meeting of the House tea party caucus.
I was invited by Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) to speak about the coming debt ceiling fight because of a column I had written (and she misread) for Roll Call. I spoke first but was asked to stay for the rest of the meeting when the tea party chairs from Pennsylvania, Florida and Virginia told (actually…screamed at would be a better description) the 20 or so representatives who were there what they wanted from them in that session of Congress.
Number one on their wish list was — and this is an exact quote — “defund Obamacare.”
The House was scheduled to vote the next day on a continuing resolution that, if it wasn’t enacted, would result in a federal government shutdown. The tea party state chairs were adamant that the members of Congress — all of which were self-professed tea party supporters — not vote for the CR if it included any funding for Obamacare.
The next day 5 tea party members voted against the CR because it included funding for Obamacare. Eventually, 59 voted against the final CR with the Obamacare funding that kept the government open through the rest of fiscal 2012.
