U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., stand on different sides of many issues as they both look toward running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. But this week, the two Republican rivals found agreement in defunding President Barack Obamas health care law and both of the senators are gathering petitions to defund the law.
The Campaign for Liberty, which is chaired by Pauls father former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, has been sharply critical of Rubios stances on foreign affairs and immigration reform. However the Campaign for Liberty and Rubio stressed similar lines of attack against Obamas health care law.
In a message sent out to supporters on Thursday, John Tate, the president of the Campaign for Liberty, pointed toward Congress returning to Washington in September. Another opportunity may not come around until it is too late to reverse the damage Obamacare is doing to our health care and our liberty, Tate insisted. Next month, Congress will consider a continuing resolution (CR) to keep taxpayer dollars flowing to the federal bureaucracy. Senators Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, and Rand Paul are spearheading an effort to attach language defunding Obamacare to the CR. This would force President Obama, Harry Reid, and their statist cronies to choose between funding all their other big-spending schemes or defunding what they see as their signature accomplishment.
Tate offered harsh words for some of the GOP leadership in the Republican-controlled House. Some Republicans, including House Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, are heading for the tall grass, claiming it would be irresponsible to force Obama to choose between admitting his health care plan is a disaster or funding his other favorite programs, Tate insisted. They would rather bask in the approval of the Beltway media than obey their promise to you to fight to repeal Obamacare.
The Campaign for Liberty is running a petition calling for the defunding of the health care law.
Rubio has also been calling for defunding the health care law and he highlighted his position throughout this week. Responding to a constituent letter on Tuesday, Rubio insisted, when Congress returns to Washington in September, it will be the last chance to stop Obamas health care law.
Our last chance, perhaps our last best chance, to put a brake on this Obamacare disaster is in September when we take up the short-term budget," Rubio said. And the only thing Im saying is we should not shut down the government, we should fund the government. The only thing we shouldnt fund as part of that budget is Obamacare. Thats all Im saying. And I think its unfortunate that the president is saying, Well, if you dont fund Obamacare, Ill shut down the government. Thats an unreasonable position, especially when so many of his former allies on Obamacare are now saying themselves, Lets walk away from it. Not conservative Republicans alone. Were talking about prominent labor unions, like the Teamsters, who have come out and said, Mr. President, Obamacare is breaking its promises. And he highlighted all the things that I pointed out earlier: people being moved to part-time, people losing their hours, people losing their jobs, their premiums going up. And the labor unions, the labor unions, traditional supporters of the Democrats and the president, are calling for Obamacare to be suspended or repealed.
In fact, heres the most ironic one," Rubio continued. The union that represents the workers at the IRS, theyre asking to be freed from Obamacare. Theyre asking that Obamacare not apply to them. And the irony, these are the same workers who are in charge of enforcing Obamacare. So what theyre basically saying is they want the power, the IRS does, to enforce Obamacare, but they dont want to have Obamacare for themselves. Thats not fair, and thats what Im fighting against, and I hope you understand that thats really what Im focused on. I am focused on the middle class. Its the middle class, thats the reason why Im fighting to defund Obamacare and stop this from moving further, and I hope I can convince as many of you to join us in that effort.
Rubio sent out a message to supporters late Thursday running his own petition calling for the defunding of the health care law.
Obamacare advocates are in attack mode, Rubio wrote in the email. They sense that momentum is building in our push to defund Obamacare so they are funneling millions of dollars into a nationwide grassroots campaign against us. Theyve begun by targeting my conservative colleagues and me with rallies and protests in our home states. Their goal is simple: to intimidate us into giving up our efforts to stop Obamacare. But they will not succeed.
I know, and my conservative colleagues know, that with the support of thousands of other individuals just like you, when it comes time to meet them head on this Septembe, we will not only match their intensity we will surpass it, Rubio insisted. Until then, they will continue to pound us with special interest money and false attacks.
Reclaim America, a PAC affiliated with Rubio, will be running its own petitions to defund the law.
This September is our last best chance to stop Obamacare, Rubio repeated on Thursday.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com.
