Fox News is Wrong, Cruz is Right - ObamaCare Can Be Defunded

The following email was just forwarded to me this morning ... The plan described for stopping the funding of the loathsome so-called Affordable Care Act is ingenious. Senator Ted Cruz is a leader. The GOP is in desperate need real leadership. The Speaker of the House and the Minority Leader in the Senate demonstrate that they care only about maintaining the status quo and preserving their sorry seats of power. They've compromised their principles for political purposes and expediency.

 

If you watched Fox News tonight (Friday), you would think that the Republicans in the House, and Ted Cruz in particular, are out of their minds. Charles Krauthamer called their plan to defund ObamaCare a "charade".  They basically made it sound as if there is no chance of the Cruz plan working. I have to admit, based on everything I was reading and hearing from Congressional and Senate staffers, I had little belief that this plan was anything but a potential disaster.

However, tonight on the Mark Levin Show, Ted Cruz explained a part of the plan I had never heard before, and perhaps you had not heard before either, that makes all the difference.  Cruz admitted that the chances of doing anything in the Senate are very low. He admitted that the ObamaCare defunding would be stripped from the CR by the Senate and it would be sent back to the House. (Though it would be great if he can force Senate Democrats to have to vote on it!) 

Now, this is where the new information comes in. Up until now, and if you watched Fox News or any other station, we were led to believe that the only options that would be left to the House after the CR came back from the Senate would be to either pass the CR or shut down the government. Neither of which would turn out well for the Republican or for our movement.

But Cruz explained that the next step would instead be for the House to start sending one CR at a time back to the Senate that funds part of the government, but not ObamaCare.  So, for instance, they would pass a CR that funds Social Security and Medicare and send it to the Senate.  What is the Senate going to do? Refuse to fund Social Security and Medicare?  No way.  Then the House sends a CR to fund the Military. Same thing happens. The Democrats will have no choice but to pass these CR's.  If the Senate tries to add Obamacare to any of the CR's, the House votes it down and sends back another CR without ObamaCare. They repeat the process until the entire government is funded at sequestration levels, with the exception of ObamaCare.  The Republican's never do anything to shutdown the government, but the Senate is in a position to be responsible for shutting down the government if they don't approve the individual CR's.  If they refuse and keep sending back a single CR, it is they that will be shutting down the Government  - while we will be protecting the American people from the economic and healthcare damage of ObamaCare. That my fellow Patriots is the "power of the purse" writ large!  I for one, think it can work. What about you?

Now our job becomes two fold.  First, I don't think even a handful of Republican House members understand this is the plan.  Cruz sure waited long enough to spell it out!  So, we have got to call all of our House Representatives and tell them this is what we want them to do and tell them we will back them if they do. 

Second, we need to start calling our friends and relatives and start explaining this plan. Everyone knows ObamaCare is a disaster, but they need to know what the Republicans are doing to stop it.  Public opinion is going to be critical and we need to help people get on board. Be sure to explain that the Republicans have offered a bunch of better health care reform bills, such as the The American Health Care Reform Act.

I hope this information makes things a little more clear and gives you a good idea of what we need to do and what our House Republicans need to do.  Hat's off to Ted Cruz who certainly has shown the ability to lead on this critical issue for our nation. Let's make it happen!

Best Regards,

Tom Zawistowski

Executive Director

Portage County TEA Party