Defunding Obamacare in the Senate

[BlueDemKev]

Okay, so Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) are leading the fight in the Senate to defund Obamacare since they can't accept the fact that they lost the health care reform battle fair and square.

My question is this: Since the Democrats hold a majority in the Senate and not a single Senate Democrat supports defunding Obamacare, how do these guys think they're going to pull this off? Reconciliation bills cannot be filibustered, so they can't withhold funding with just 41 votes).

[NYC_SKP]

1. I think it's just grandstanding.

I don't imagine that they think they'll be successful this round, but they might think it will accrue to future fights.

More than this, though, I think they're just playing to their constituencies for reelection.

[spin]

2. +1000 (n/t)

[LiberalFighter]

10. That and fundraising efforts.

[truebluegreen]

3. They don't.

It is just posturing for the base--gotta ward off those primary threats from the real whackjobs.

Pretending is more important than actual governing yah know.

[BlueDemKev]

8. I believe that Ted Cruz...

...is an actual whackjob, though.

[truebluegreen]

9. Have to agree with you there.

A true believer, and deeply delusional.

[BlueDemKev]

11. Have you seen his psychotic father speak?

9:20. "I thank God for men like Glenn Beck who are modern John the Baptists!"

[Blue Idaho]

13. Doesn't he mean a modern John Bircher?

Glenn Beck wouldn't know John the Baptist if he bit him on the ass.

[Thinkingabout]

4. I am still waiting for something intelligent to come out of their mouths like "I'm resigning

And will never run again". They could at least fess up at the town hall meetings and say it would nit be something achieved.

[PoliticAverse]

5. Bottom line is they won't be 'pulling it off' as they don't have the votes. n/t

[Old Codger]

6. Children

Playing make believe to their base(ment)

[Proud Liberal Dem]

7. They can't pull it off now

and they won't even be able to pull it off even IF they win the Senate in the next midterms. Why? Because even if they win a majority in the House and Senate and send a bill repealing Obamacare, it won't be by a veto-proof margin, so as long as Barack Obama is President (through 2017), it's NEVER going to become law. And by 2017, it will be well-established law and people will have adapted to it (hopefully, with some tweaks along the way), so I doubt that there will be any significant public outcry pushing for repeal by then. Repeal is DEAD in the water short of President Obama signing it or pushing for it self and the chances of THAT happening are 0.000000000% Republicans need to get over it and move in IMHO and start working with the Democrats to try to improve it and/or iron out some of the bumps.

[Amonester]

15. Republican'ts don't want to improve anything

other than their own bank accounts.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

16. Don't worry

I'm not fooling myself on this point either. I keep hoping that some shred of sanity will re-assert itself in the GOP because as things stand, we're all in thrall to the tea crazies because they are. If what the teabaggers are doing only affected the GOP then I wouldn't care but because they've allowed them to run things the GOP is being put in the position of having to choose between power and what was traditionally considered responsible governance and they just seem to keep choosing the pursuit of power and it's creating a totally dysfunctional and unproductive federal government that is increasingly less responsive to the needs of us. Of course, the Republicans are always the craziest and most destructive when they are out of power (WH) but the open inclusion of the right-wing fringe has made things even worse.

[CreekDog]

12. .

[kairos12]

14. Playing to the crazies and 2016