After saying that he was “deliberative” about a proposed
government shutdown designed to force the defunding of ObamaCare, Congressman
Bill Cassidy (R-Baton Rouge) has now signed on with over 80 other House
Republicans in signing a letter to Republican House leadership stating that
they will not support any spending bill, including a continuing resolution, unless
the Affordable Care Act, aka ObamaCare, is defunded.
A continuing resolution would allow the government to
continue spending money on existing programs like Social Security, Food Stamps,
and unemployment, and continue federal employment.
The Louisiana Republican delegation is split on the proposed
government shutdown with Congressmen Steve Scalise (R-Metairie) and John
Fleming (R-Minden) supporting the shutdown and Congressmen Charles Boustany (R-Lafayette) and the outgoing Rodney Alexander (R-Quitman) opposed.
Senator David Vitter (R-Metairie) has also voiced his support of a government shutdown even as he tried to back away from that stance and called such a proposal a “media gotcha” in a radio interview this week.
The House, including Cassidy, has voted to defund ObamaCare
40 times but the measure has never passed the Senate.
Cassidy has publicly stated his willingness to defund
ObamaCare but was opposed to using the threat of a government shutdown to
achieve that goal.
“If funding for Obamacare
ends up being wrapped into other things such as funding for the military, then
I have to support things such as funding for the military,” Cassidy said at a
meeting this week.
“It depends on what you mean
by shutting down the government,” he added. “If you mean that the guys on
active duty don’t get bullets, or that their spouses who are stateside don’t
have a check to pay their rent, I am not willing to do that.”
Cassidy is a
candidate for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Mary Landrieu (D-New
Orleans). The other announced Republican candidate, Rob Maness (R-Madisonville)
has signed onto the pledge to not support any spending plan other than a
continuing resolution to defund ObamaCare.
