Marco Rubio Calls for Defunding Obama's Health Care Law

With conservatives wary of him after his prominent role in passing immigration reform in the Senate, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., played up his opposition to President Barack Obamas federal health-care law on Tuesday. Rubio is a leading potential Republican presidential candidate in 2016.

Rubio took to the Senate floor on Tuesday to call for defunding the law.

We have one last chance to stop this if the White House wont cooperate, and thats through our budgeting process, Rubio said. We are probably going to have to pass in September here a short-term budget to move forward into the next year. And a lot of my colleagues love to say that theyre against Obamacare. But if you vote for a budget that pays for Obamacare, that pays for these things Ive just described, you have voted for Obamacare. Some will say, Well, thats crazy. You are going to shut down the government over Obamacare? No, whats crazy is moving forward with this thing after all the problems Ive outlined. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I only have 10 minutes. I could be here six hours describing all the problems with Obamacare. Moving forward on that is whats crazy. Whats crazy is arguing that the only way we can move forward with a budget is if it includes Obamacare. Whats crazy is shutting down the government because the budget doesnt pay to implement this outrageous and broken system. We need to wake up and realize whats happening. This is hurting the American middle class. And if we lose the American middle class, we lose what makes our economy different and special and unique.

Rubio played up the same themes in almost the same words when he appeared on Bill OReillys show on Fox News on Tuesday night.

This is the only chance and the last chance that we have, Rubio said. And the one thing that does bother me is that there [are] people in Washington that love to say, Were against Obamacare. How can you be against Obamacare, but vote for a budget that funds its implementation when you know the harm that its going to do? Now I would much rather the president come down from his prideful position and basically say, Look the law is messed up. But hes not going to do that obviously, and so this is the only option. This is a fundamental issue. This is not a disagreement about some small piece of legislation. This affects a sixth of the U.S. economy.

The president now says hes focused on the middle class, added Rubio. Well, one of the most important things we can do to help the middle class in America right now is defund and get rid of Obamacare, because the impact its going to have on millions of Americans who have health insurance and are happy with it, is going to be dramatic and painful. We cant let that happen.