PPACA separates potential GOP 2016 contenders

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. (AP) — A clear divide over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) separates the emerging field of potential GOP candidates for the 2016 presidential race, previewing the battles ahead as they try to rebuild their party and seize the White House.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz says he will fight “with every breath” to stop President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement, even if that means shutting down parts of the federal government. It’s an approach that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush calls “quite dicey” politically for Republicans. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky says flatly that a shutdown is “a dumb idea.”

“I’m acknowledging we probably can’t defeat or get rid of Obamacare,” Paul told reporters Saturday while attending a Republican conference in Michigan. “But by starting with our position of not funding it maybe we get to a position where we make it less bad.”

Allied on the other side with Cruz are U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and others who say they are making a principled stand, willing to oppose the law at all costs.

Then there are those taking what they call a pragmatic approach by accepting the law, if grudgingly, and moving on. This group includes Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who says a shutdown would violate the public trust.

“The government we have should work, so that’s why I don’t believe we should shut the government down,” Walker told reporters at the Michigan conference.

The Republican-controlled House passed a short-term spending plan Friday that would continue funding government operations through mid-December while withholding money for the health law.

Some GOP lawmakers also advocate holding back on increasing the nation’s borrowing limit, which could result in a first-ever default, unless the law is brought down.

Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to scold “a faction on the far right” of the Republican Party, and he said he would not allow “anyone to harm this country’s reputation or threaten to inflict economic pain on millions of our own people, just to make an ideological point.”

While attending the Michigan conference, Paul said Republicans could force a vote in both houses of Congress, then negotiate changes to legislation in a joint conference committee. But, he added, time is running out.

Christie has accepted for his state key provisions of the law, yet campaigned on behalf of candidates who support dismantling it. He has taken no public position on whether to fight the law to the point of government shutdown.

“He is either unwilling or unable to speak up against these guys,” Democratic National Committee spokesman Mike Czin said.