On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker took issue with some prominent conservatives in his party, including Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas, who say they won’t vote for any spending bills — including stopgap spending bills known as continuing resolutions — that include money to advance the health care law.
Further from The Tennessean:
“I think it’s a silly effort, and what people are really saying who are behind that effort is, ‘We don’t have the courage to roll up our sleeves and deal with real deficit reduction and spending decisions. We want to take ourselves out of the debate and act like we are being principled to the American people by saying if there is one dime of funding for Obamacare we are not going to vote for the (continuing resolution),’ ” Corker said Tuesday morning on MSNBC. “I don’t look at that as very courageous.”
Republican calls to delay or defund the health care law have gotten louder since the Obama administration announced July 2 that it was postponing until 2015 the mandate that businesses with more than 50 workers provide health insurance to employees or pay a penalty. Administration officials said they want to give employers more time to comply.
Tennessee lawmakers have joined the GOP effort to minimize the health care law’s impact.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Brentwood, introduced a bill Friday that would delay the law for a year. Rep. Diane Black, R-Gallatin, has proposed barring federal subsidies for people who enroll in health insurance exchanges created by the law until a system is in place verifying eligibility.