Thread: Facing Primary, Lindsey Graham Now Supports Defunding ObamaCare

Facing Primary, Lindsey Graham Now Supports Defunding ObamaCare



by Mike Flynn 21 Sep 2013, 8:29 AM PDT 943 post a comment
On Friday, the House voted for a resolution to keep government open but also defund ObamaCare. Within minutes, Nancy Mace, who is opposing Sen. Lindsey Graham in the GOP primary, issued a press release attacking Graham for his past criticism of the defunding strategy. In just two hours, Graham tweeted that he supported the House's efforts to defund the unpopular health care law. Such is the power of primaries.

As recently as July, Graham said that defunding ObamaCare was "a bridge too far for him." Primary opponents do tend to focus a politician's mind.
Graham faces at least three opponents in next year's primary contest. Normally, multiple challengers give an edge to incumbents, as opposition is split among several challengers. South Carolina, however, uses a run-off system. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two voter-getters face off in a run-off. Multiple challengers increase the odds that Graham falls below 50% and has to face a run-off.
Graham is no doubt a nice man and would make a good GOP Senator from a state like Maine. His representing South Carolina, however, is a wasted opportunity for conservatives. An East Coast John McCain does a disservice to the Palmetto State.
Graham's tweet in support of the House action indicates he is aware of the challenge before him. Few incumbents are so disliked by the grass-roots, both in South Carolina and across the country. A run-off election, with a single conservative challenger, would ignite national interest and possibly create a wave that washes over Graham.
His tweet in support of defunding ObamaCare was a good start. He now has to follow that up over the coming weeks.


http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...ding-ObamaCare

Exclusive: McConnell Doesn't Commit to All Options Against Reid in Obamacare Fight



by Matthew Boyle 20 Sep 2013 817 post a comment
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will not commit to use all the resources available to him and other Republicans to force Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s hand on a vote to fund all of the federal government but the Affordable Care Act, Breitbart News has learned.

The House passed a continuing resolution (CR) Friday that defunds Obamacare and funds the government for the next few months. The Senate will likely take up the measure next week, but Reid is expected to use an amendment procedural trick to strip the House’s CR of its Obamacare defunding language, a move that McConnell could stop if he really wanted to.
Reid could remove the Obamacare defunding language from the bill in two ways. The first is if he introduces an amendment before the Senate votes on cloture for the House CR. That would require a 60-vote threshold, and McConnell’s spokesman Don Stewart told Breitbart News that if Reid attempted that tactic, all Senate Republicans would stand together to block it.
“Can’t happen,” McConnell spokesman Don Stewart told Breitbart News when asked about that possible plan from Reid. “Reid would need 60 [votes] to strip out the House language before cloture is invoked. All Republicans would block that.”
The second way is that Reid could introduce the amendment to fund Obamacare after cloture is invoked on the bill. McConnell and his Republicans could stop this from happening in one of two ways. They could refuse to grant cloture in the first place until a unanimous consent agreement is reached in the Senate that any amendment added to the bill post-cloture would also be subject to a 60-vote threshold. They could also require Reid to fill what is known as the “amendment tree,” a list of amendments that is the maximum of what could be considered on a bill, with amendments other than that one, before agreeing to grant cloture.
Over the course of several emails over several hours on Friday, Stewart declined to answer whether McConnell will promise to deliver the Republican votes to block cloture until Reid’s maneuvers are completely stopped. Despite Stewart’s refusal to confirm that McConnell will actually use all the minority rights he has at his disposal, Stewart insists McConnell does support the House CR to defund Obamacare.
Stewart told Breitbart News that the Senate Minority Leader would “vote against an amendment to strike” that language that defunds Obamacare. “I don’t know of any Republican who would support an amendment to strike,” he added.
Senate Conservatives Fund executive director Matt Hoskins, a force behind the anti-Obamacre petition website DontFundIt.com, ramped up pressure on McConnell and Senate Republicans in a statement earlier on Friday. "If 41 Republicans stand strong and oppose cloture, they can defeat Reid's plan to fund Obamacare," Hoskins asserted. "However, if Republicans waffle and vote for cloture, it will grease the skids for Reid's plan to fund Obamacare. It's pretty simple—any Republican who votes for cloture is voting to fund Obamacare.”
Hoskins added that the forthcoming fight is a “critical test” for Senate Republicans, “especially for Mitch McConnell, the Republican Leader.”
“It's time for Mitch McConnell to show some leadership and deliver the 41 votes needed to defeat cloture on Harry Reid's plan to fund Obamacare,” Hoskins said. “Republicans like to say they are against Obamacare, but now is the time to prove it. Now is when it matters."
FreedomWorks spokeswoman Jackie Bodnar echoed Hoskins’ sentiment in calling on Senate GOP leadership to unify around opposition to Reid’s expected tricks.
“It’s critical for Senate Republicans to present a strong and united front on their commitment to funding the government without ObamaCare,” Bodnar told Breitbart News. “Harry Reid is expected to try to remove the defund language from the CR, and those in leadership like Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn need to join conservatives like Mike Lee and Ted Cruz to fight him at every turn.
"This isn’t about towing a party line," Bodnar declared, "it’s about listening to your constituents back home and doing the right thing.”
Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn’s spokeswoman Megan Mitchell said her boss does support efforts to defund Obamacare in the CR but similarly would not commit to actually using all the minority’s resources to fight this battle. “Sen. Cornyn has voted to defund Obamacare every time it has come up for a vote and will continue to work to protect Texans,” Mitchell said in an email. “We hope, when deciding how to proceed with the CR, Majority Leader Reid will listen to the overwhelming majority of Americans who do not want Obamacare.”


http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...ommit-to-fight

CNN Wages War Against GOP After ObamaCare Vote



by John Nolte 21 Sep 2013, 7:37 AM PDT 764 post a comment
Watching CNN after the House voted to defund ObamaCare and keep the government running was like watching "Democrat TV: Live." As though they had agreed to every possible Democrat talking point, The Least Trustworthy Name In News immediately savaged Republicans as "radicals," "inmates running the asylum," and a political party that was holding the American economy "for ransom."

To make matters worse, from my own personal viewing, it seemed to take more than two hours for anyone at CNN to bother to inform their viewers of the news that, while the GOP had voted to defund ObamaCare, the House had also voted to keep the government running. But the crucial piece of contextual information about voting to keep the government running seemed to be information inconvenient to the left-wing network's determined push to aid Obama and the Democrat Party.

Video at the Page Link:

--
--
In the wake of CNN's gun control debacle and the George Zimmerman train wreck, you would think the network would pick a few high-profile opportunities to attempt a credibility resurrection. But every day and in every way it becomes more and more apparent that CNN is much more interested in keeping Obama's agenda alive than their own reputation.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC




http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journal...teew%20Article

http://www.alipac.us/f19/ann-barnhar...dt-1-a-222724/