U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.U.S. Sen. Bob Corker warned House Republicans today not to let a single-minded focus on torpedoing a “shiny object” – President Barack Obama’s health care law – damage previous year’s hard-won gains in cutting federal spending.
The Chattanooga Republican issued his cautionary note in a Senate floor speech, saying zeroing in on the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare has consumed all the attention in the debate over a temporary funding measure to fund the federal government.
House Republicans’ insistence first on defunding the law and now delaying portions of it has led to a partial government shutdown with Obama and fellow Senate Democrats refusing to budge.
“I’m concerned that so much focus has been placed on the ‘shiny object,’ the health care law, as it relates to the [continuing funding resolution] that our focus has been taken off the gains that we’ve made in controlling spending,” Corker said in his floor speech.
The senator said “sometimes when people find themselves in a box canyon or in a place that is difficult, people begin doing things that are not in the best long-term interests.