In a rare instance of infighting House Republicans are furious at their fellow party members in the Senate after the announcement that the House planned on attaching a rider to defund the Affordable Care Act to a budget bill was met with lukewarm support by the Senators who suggested the tactic, according to Fox News.
Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, had previously opposed attaching such a rider to the must-pass budget bill but eventually caved to pressure from the more conservative wing of his party. The bill, if passed in the House when it comes up for a vote Thursday or Friday, will be met with fierce opposition by Democrats in the Senate.
If a budget bill isn't passed by the end of September it will force a government shutdown. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has advocated the idea of forcing a shutdown to defund the much hated health care reform bill that was passed three years ago. In a statement released by Cruz along with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, the senators appeared to be passing all responsibility to their party members in the House, according to the Washington Post.
"Today's announcement that the House will vote to defund Obamacare is terrific news," Cruz said. "Harry Reid will no doubt try to strip the defund language from the continuing resolution, and right now he likely has the votes to do so. At that point House Republicans must stand firm, hold their ground and continue to listen to the American People."
House Republicans were furious about the statement as they feel that Cruz is trying to pin all of the blame for a potential government shutdown on the members of the House; it should be noted that House members will be up for reelection in 2014, according to Fox News.
"We expect them to stand and filibuster like Rand Paul," a senior House GOP aide angrily told Fox News.
"Our members are really p***ed at his comment," a senior House FOP aide told the Washington Post. The aide said that they thought Cruz and others were merely grandstanding. "If he simply acknowledges they didn't have the votes, he proves our point."
It will be interesting to see what will happen when the bill makes its way to the Senate. House leaders sound as if they are expecting much more support from their colleagues in the Senate than it looks like they will receive.
"It's time for Cruz and Lee to really show us what they have in the Senate," another GOP aide said. "That press release gave the impression that the answer is 'not much.'"
