Republicans are starting to move away from Sen. Mike Lee’s effort to defund Obamacare.
National Journal reports that Congressional GOPers are fighting amongst themselves about whether they should attempt to shut down the government in order to stop implementation of health care reform.
Conservative groups accuse the GOP establishment of adopting a defeatist attitude. “You can’t win if you don’t fight, and the Republican Party—and the leadership in the party—has done nothing but cave, cave, and cave,” said Matt Hoskins, executive director of the Senate Conservatives Fund, a tea-party-aligned group that supports the defunding push.
Logistically, the defunding push has to begin in the GOP-controlled House, where the defunding backers hope that Republicans will muscle through a measure to fund the government into October with a provision preventing any of the money from being spent on the health care law. Then, they want the GOP minority in the Senate to filibuster any spending bill that would give funds to implement the law.
