The national roll-out of Obamacare has been anything but flawless, and even the White House has admitted it. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) now says Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius should pay for it — with her job.
Appearing on CNN‘s State of the Union this week in a pre-taped interview, Cruz called for Sebelius’ resignation, saying the introduction of Obamacare to millions of Americans was a “disaster.”
“Kathleen Sebelius — some of your colleagues are saying she should resign,” CNN‘s Dana Bash said. “Do you agree with that?”
“Absolutely, she should resign,” Cruz responded. “Why? Because the program she has implemented, Obamacare, is a disaster. It’s not working. It’s hurting people all across this country.”
Amidst recent calls for Sebelius to testify before Congress, the Health and Human Services Secretary remains uncommitted to addressing the website’s problems since the launching on Oct. 1.
But on Sunday, HHS posted a brief update on the HealthCare.gov’s tech progress, admitting problems existed and putting forth a strategy for improving the system in the future. And on Fox News Sunday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said that Sebelius will testify eventually.
Cruz told Bash that he, unlike some other Congressional Republicans, was not going to let Obamacare just fail on its own, in order to score political points in Washington. He argued that would harm the American people.
“What a terrible cynical approach,” he told Bash. “I’m not interested in seeing the American people suffer just because my party might benefit politically if they blame the Democrats for the foolish policies that have been imposed.”
While Cruz has received accolades from supportive constituents recently, he has also been accused of launching his fight against Obamacare with the sole intention of raising financial support for the Senate Conservatives Fund.
But Cruz said the move was not to take out moderate Republicans or inflict harm on the American people with the secret hope of benefiting on a political level. Instead, Cruz insisted the blame has shifted to him because his colleagues will not focus on the effect Obamacare is having on the country.
“They don’t want to talk about the substance of Obamacare,” he said. “They don’t want to talk about the small businesses that are not expanding because of Obamacare and all the young people that can’t get jobs because of Obamacare.”
