Ted Cruz: I'd 'Love to Debate' Rove on Obamacare Defunding

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said on Fox News’s “Hannity” Tuesday that he “would love to debate” Republican strategist Karl Rove on defunding Obamacare.

Cruz insisted that the federal government has never rolled back a massive government program like Obamacare once fully implemented. He also said that the Obama administration wants to get Americans “addicted” to the Obamacare subsidies and “hooked to the sugar.”

He said the opportunity to defund Obamacare right now “may well be the last opportunity” to do so and reiterated that the House should pass a continuing resolution that funds the entirety of the federal government except for the President’s signature legislation. Cruz then said conservatives then needed to win the argument by asking, “Why is President Obama threatening to shut down the entire federal government to force Obamacare down our threats?” 

Cruz said conservatives needed to go to Americans and make the argument that Obama has already given waivers to corporations but is willing to shut down the government to deny working class Americans the same privilege. 

Rove had been on the program earlier and said that Republicans should not threaten to defund Obamacare during the next round of budget negotiations because it was a losing strategy. 

Cruz responded on Hannity by saying “I’m pretty sure you lose 100% of the battles that you begin surrendering.”