WASHINGTON — Sen. Marco Rubio wants to tie passage of a continuing resolution to defunding Obamacare.
“I believe that we should not vote nor pass a continuing resolution, unless that continuing resolution defunds Obamacare,” Rubio said Thursday morning at an event hosted by Concerned Veterans for America and the Weekly Standard. “You want to delay implementation? Don’t fund it.”
A continuing resolution funds the government in place of a budget. Without one, the government would shut down at the end of the fiscal year.
Republicans have made no secret of their hatred of the Affordable Care Act in the years since it was passed, but the floodgates reopened after the administration announced last week that it would delay the implementation of the business mandate until 2015. It was originally set to take affect later this year.
The announcement kicked off a surge of calls from Republicans in both the House and the Senate to delay other parts of the bill as well. The Republican controlled House is expected to hold a vote later this month on delaying the individual mandate, and Senate Republicans sent a letter to President Barack Obama calling for a “permanent delay” of the law.
“Obamacare’s not just a bad idea, it is unimplementable,” Rubio said, predicting that the debate over a continuing resolution would take place with the backdrop of “the implosion of Obamacare.”
“We should not pass a continuing resolution, and I will not vote for a continuing resolution, unless it defunds Obamacare for that period of time of that continuing resolution,” Rubio said.