Tea Party campaign creates GOP rift

Groups want to use shutdown threat to defund ‘ Obamacare’

WASHINGTON As Congress’ summer break winds down, Tea Party groups are trying to pressure Republicans to block funding for the nation’s new health care law.

A cross- country anti-“Obamacare” tour that began Tuesday highlights a divide among Republicans. Some party elders are trying to avoid a showdown that could damage the party ahead of the 2014 elections.

Sen. John McCain, R- Ariz., calls the idea of blocking funding for the health care law a “non- starter,” and Sen. Richard Burr, R- N. C., says the prospect of shutting down the government over the law is the “dumbest idea” he has ever heard.

On the other side are lawmakers, many elected with Tea Party support, who want to thwart President Obama’s signature domestic achievement before key provisions take effect. They say they won’t support any bill to fund the government that doesn’t bar spending for the health care law.

“There’s a real concern about the lack of courage of folks who don’t want to stand up to something,” said Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R- Kan., a proponent of defunding the law. “Sometimes you just have to do the right thing — that should be more important than winning the next election.”

Open enrollment under the health care law begins Oct. 1, and state exchanges will begin helping people find insurance coverage.

That is also the start of a new fiscal year. If Congress doesn’t pass shortterm or year- long spending bills, a government shutdown would occur.

The anti- Obamacare effort faces a Democratic- controlled Senate that is unlikely to pass any legislation blocking funding, and Obama won’t sign any measure that does so.

Yet Tea Party groups, led by For America and the Tea Party Patriots, believe their push will attract grassroots support and pressure some Republicans. They started Tuesday with a Kentucky news conference aimed at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. An event will be held today in Austin to get the attention of Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate GOP leader. The effort ends with a Capitol Hill rally on Sept. 10.

“This may well be the last opportunity to pull the law back,” said Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots.

Cornyn spokesman Drew Brandewie says the senator “has been fighting Obamacare tooth and nail for the better part of four years.”

“The Republican Party is fighting an all- out civil war,” responded Justin Barasky, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. That division, he said, “will ultimately prevent them from taking the majority next year.”