WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer acknowledged Thursday that many Americans were in favor of repealing Obamacare, but said that Republicans should delay any attempt to do away with the law until the 2014 elections.
Earlier this week, House Republican leadership postponed a scheduled vote on a continuing resolution to fund the government until the end of the year. The move came after several of the chamber’s most conservative members objected to a procedural trick that would have allowed the House to vote on defunding Obamacare through the CR, but would have allowed the Democratic Senate to pass a CR without that component.
Some Republicans said they did not want a show vote and would push for a CR that would actually repeal Obamacare. Now, Republicans are discussing trading a debt ceiling raise for a one-year delay of the healthcare law.
Schumer and other Democratic Senate leaders on Thursday attacked Republicans for letting the government inch closer toward a shutdown on October 1 when the current CR expires.
“Many of the public is against Obamacare, but very few of the public says hold up everything else ’til you repeal it,” Schumer said Thursday.
“They’re perfectly blunt about it. They think threatening a government shut down and holding the full faith and credit of the U.S. government hostage is the place they have the most leverage. We agree,” Schumer said. “They want to keep debating Obamacare fine, but there’s a time and a place for everything: it’s called the election of 2014. Let them go debate in 2014 as they tried in 2012 whether there should be a Republican Senate, more Republican Congress, so that they can finally repeal Obamacare.”